I wish that I could hug her
like the reflection of city lights pressed against the harbor,
glistening:
Her eyes smiling above her cheeks.
We stand listening
to the silence,
as our bodies speak
the distance out of existence
once our chests meet.
Be yourself,
not what everyone else is.
You see, as humans we are selfish.
Until it comes to swag,
then when all wanna be selfless as
we place ourselves on these shelves
like shellfish
allergies we swell.
Thinking that these fabrications, they will sell
with the fabric in which we dwell we
costume our identities as we
consume the snacks that
society sneaks us.
Beneath color coded wrappers, primed to please us, we’ve
failed to see the way our securities have breeched us.
No trust
can exist if
we cannot trust ourselves
to be ourselves, how
can we trust one another?
Shivering, I’m standing, watching cars drive pass.
Neck swiveling, I pan in, making eye contact with a driver through his glass.
Red lights prevent us all from hitting the gas in “rough” neighborhoods.
The same places for where we collect canned goods.
The same faces we never truly see, unless intentions are misunderstood.
Like when a man stops at the bench behind me,
to pull a ski mask out of his bag.
He immediately gets my attention.
My numb hands now feel the tension.
Exhales caught in misty suspension.
My flight mode is pending.
His arms are bending toward his bowing head.
His hands are mending face with thread.
And Like the black space of this sunless morning, his identity sheds.
The lights lose their reds,
The drivers turn their heads,
and the man steadily treads-
off into the arms of his 9-5,
armored in his man-made fabric,
which has ben crafted,
to protect his heart from the sting
of nature’s frigid hold.
