Nobody Asked

I cut it myself, late, the bathroom mirror

still fogged. The back went

uneven — I could feel it, didn't care.

I thought: they'll ask. Three days went

by. Nobody mentioned it.

The fourth day someone said

you do something different? and then hit

their own question out of my head —

oh wait, no, you just look tired.

Moved on. I nodded.

I don't know what I wanted. I hired

a barber the next week who corrected

it without saying anything either —

just scissors, just the sound

of it getting fixed. The mirror

in that place had a blue surround

and I watched my face while he worked

and it was the same face.

I ran into the guy from high school last Thursday.

Sixteen years.

He didn't mention the hair.