People walk around this city
As fragments of larger pieces
(Imagine chips fallen from ice blocks adrift)
They have no idea
I only know because I have been
Many fragments from many wholes
Many times before my current fragmented state
I am not smarter than anyone else
I have just come together and apart more often
Quietly with no dramatics
(Imagine this scenario involving a work break and people)
It was ninety-three degrees yesterday
A suited man orders a coffee and two donuts
Hot? Yes, with two sugars
I bought a manilla folder from a rundown office supply store
Cashier tells me to enjoy the folder and hands me seventeen cents
Rounding the corner I lock eyes with the often over-dressed deli clerk
I just haven’t connected with yet
One of us nods and we both move on
I sip the grape slushie I couldn’t resist and develop instant brain freeze
Simultaneously thinking about Afghanistan
Thomas Salvatore is a regular person who has been writing for over thirty years; college educated but had to work so did not move on to post graduate studies which he often regrets but still has lots to smile about. Thomas is a New Yorker, born in Queens, home of the Ramones.