Blood Pressure

On the corner of University and Riverside
I see a lean bodied jogger waiting
for the light to turn and the big hummer
to slide away so that he can cross
towards the river.

He takes his pulse, and jogs in place
as if there was no time, only breaths
and the stingy rhythm of today's sunset
only a few blocks away.

I pull off down the road, counting the globes
of unlight streetlights and other men
with darker hair and browner skin
waiting for a bus.