highways

________

i ride the city's veins
glaze-eyed and mildly organic
on pulsing channels of metal blood.
our red lights burn insincere, glowing
bright duplicity in tiled tunnel dusk.
am i the city? no! are you?
not all these many years;
what lives so long as cities?
childhood, standing in backyard weeds
watches this pulse-streaming flow,
flashing red-white continuity, duplicity
astride the city's asphalt arteries. see:
we mistake each other for masses,
totals, altogethers. we blur alike!
i ride the city's veins alone,
jostle with a faceless crush: the city!
while next to me, you too ride alone,
jostled by the nameless horde and i.
we are individual, but denied
and denying individuality.
nevermore! no, i shall see but cells
tomorrow
on side streets
in dark rain.




December '09
January '08