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.