Just Like the Others

I saw this man wobbling like a flag caught in the wind
He was on the edge of the sidewalk
balancing as a tightrope walker does
for the chapters of the crowd had discreetly pushed him over
He was just an ordinary man
Simple, like me
With a brain, a liver, a heart, some eyes
A person
But the sky was like thick butter that day
and the air was like hot breaths
And he went down like a flag thrown to the ground to start a race
his limp body slung over the curb and into the road like an afterthought
the gravel digging into his bloodied face
the cars didn't stop
they just veered a little around him
so that they wouldn't fully decapitate him
and get charged with murder
the people looked
then looked away
even my mother said,
"come along now my love, do not worry about him".
I watched the people step over him and around him
like a rock, a piece of trash, a wad of gum,
a piece of dog shit they didn't want to step in
something out of place, sticking out, and in the way
out of the monotonous blend of souls that move too fast
and then complain life was too short
it was this concocted society where
a woman stepped on his hand with her four inch heel
a man tripped over his unconscious legs and cursed him under his breath
the people
they flicked and flashed by like an old movie on a projector screen
like trees moving carelessly too fast past the car window
or maybe it was the car itself.
The people did this
and I was one of them.

-anna sluder

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