Closing my eyes to feel my heart-beat,
to distance from the crowd attending their egos.
Observing the minutiae,
the room unfolds:
grimacing walls,
coffee-stained lights wrapped around
one thousand dead flies.
Smiling from nervousness,
my leg tendons tense;
how far apart I am from those
I could reach!
Bitterness erodes the seats;
the AC makes me sweat.
Irony inserted in conversation.
Yahweh hiding behind an off-white cubicle.
Smoke filling the lungs.
Blue marble tiles cracking
me up.
The ceiling collapsing.
And somewhere,
a child I couldn’t save.
