marvelling

last night standing on hot pavement i watched the world walk by. a woman with hair as long as a horse's mane; another as large as a helium balloon with tiny hands eating a waffle cone. a stuffy man in a black suit pacing, racing against time (unaware that it was standing still). five asian girls in brand name clothes, laughing. a car rattling afar with ghetto beats. two young girls whose asthmatic mother died at 30 from sniffing paint thinner and smoking anything that would make her choke. another whose mother pretends to be dead so her own daughter won't contact her. two middle aged women with pants too-tight begging the world to notice them before they sink into wrinkles.

this morning running on cool pavement i saw a group of jaybirds gathered 'mongst flowers in a garden jibber-jabbering with one another and i thought, how different are we from they? all clamouring for attention, no one listening to the other, everyone begging to be heard.