On Inequality

And all at once, every cell in its crimson tributary



thronged to my aching heart.



My chest swelled with the anxiety of a hundred fizzing bottle caps,



fervently awaiting their emancipation.



I could feel my emaciated insides imploding,



wringing the life out of me,



soaking up my sweaty, confounded fear as I contorted violently



on the curb among broken bottles and torn candy wrappers.



I winced, my bloodshot eyes purging wells of desperation,



my lips trembling whispers of contempt,



of sorrow,



and of pain.



 



A shiny leather loafer crushed my lifeless fingers,



as their like had done a thousand times,



a thousand hammers pounding me numb from the inside out.



A shiny leather loafer crushed my lifeless fingers--



and kept walking.