brownian motion

let’s go for a run, shall we?
it’s almost dark, i’m almost free
of spreadsheets and linkedin networking

let’s go for a run down
brownie-square streets and senate retreats,
burnt searing heat etched into concrete

along rows of uptight
brownstone houses
rushing past women in
striped-tie blouses

men in suits and imagined crowns
men with briefcases and city frowns

sweat slicks my face like
oil ready for the frying pan
no-fuss dinner! late-night snack!
over down there’s a big trash can.

i catch
my breath
as we stroll down
twilight-dappled brick sidewalks
clockwork birds, choked carnations,
the division of international foreign relations―
“actions are louder than words.” “money talks.”

well, it feels noisily silent today
and when dusk rises from ashen gray
i wonder what will be missed
says me, ever the pessimist.

oh, don’t mind, just thinking out loud
hmm, i think that one looks like a mushroom cloud

past off-white neoclassical marble pillars
fireworks ring against silent crowds
and copters drum the darkened clouds
hey, did you see? the garden has caterpillars

the winds shift―i feel a storm fermenting
as if the weather listens, I pray
but every drop in a hurricane pleads not guilty
just following orders, they say.
does that make everything okay?