Wanderlust
Wandering, thrusting through bustling streets of vacant, downcast eyes, try and avoid contact. Vacant shops, and empty lives lined up on all sides, waiting to be filled, lusting. Salesmen thundering “surprise that special someone”. Treats, trinkets, toys and time saving devices.
Consumptive slaves driven by vices, no time for niceness now, just keep moving, wandering, wondering.
Unclean air, shared with a thousand lost souls, bought and sold, controlled, holding money in their hands, looking for something.
Cars roll by spewing toxic waste, breathe deeply, taste the poison.
Face the noise & inhumanity, machine-like movements, insanity, where had I planned to be, where did I mean to go, I don’t know what path to choose. So, I just move, aimless, mind assuaged by thoughts today.
Her. Old, foundering, tottering, slowly, trundling. She wears a frail rigidity. One of many unwanted gifts the years bestow. Hunched, crooked spine, bent back, weakened by the ravages of time, dry skin cracked, dry bones emanating a weary creak, I should stop to speak, ask if she’s ok, rush on I must.
Rust, must everything decay? Why do things fall apart?
Apart I feel, though just a cog turning in the fog of the world, a part of something bigger, something beyond us all. Transmutation? Transmigration of souls? Thoughts well above my station.
This nation of shopkeepers. A nuclear-powered shopping precinct, horns, phones and beepers.
Reared to consume, black pubic hair beards, jeans purposely torn, born to die. Thick smog sky, how and why do we find each other?
Star crossed lovers holding hands, big plans, big demands of life. Man and wife well dressed, trendy lout and devout adherent of whichever brands shout loudest, of impeccable taste. Blemish free face. The world in cuisine, on your doorstep, fast food dreams, and weight loss pills. Billboard screens beam means of attaining cheap thrills.
Cappuccino cups spilled, plastic filled bins, stave off rubbish strewn streets. Crushed glass beneath my feet. How do they meet? These couples in love seem to float above the filth and dirt, with smiles on their faces.
Look up, advertising space, “Buy now!”; “Buy me!”, frown, look down. The final frontier. Culture of commerce, known lies. Concepts idealized, totalized and televised. Imbibed, reproduced and realized. Lies fly around the world before truth notices, and gasps surprised.
