Unremarkable People in the North
are like unremarkable people everywhere,
only more resigned. You will see them below
the icicles on tall buildings, smoking
or nipping from a jar of pickled herring
as they wait for buses in the rain.
They can be distinguished
from remarkable people by their patience,
their kindness to spiders. They do not list
toward cameras, nor do they fret
about the acclaim they feel they are owed.
In summer they wander the bee-loud glade
without epinephrin, plunging their noses
fearlessly into the blooms.
Beth Spencer edits poetry and short fiction for Bear Star Press (www.bearstarpress.com) from her home in rural Northern California, where she lives with her husband and dog.