an espresso, a walk and nothing more...

Note: I wrote this on my phone a few weeks' ago

***

The street is clear of people,

a coffee shop window glitters from a puddle of water

and I sip an espresso,

having forgotten to eat my breakfast.

A group of people vaping pass the street signs for the bus stop

and the jolt of the tram shakes the pavement slightly

as I fade away into my AirPods.

Trying to forget that after some time:

the rent is due

the bills will be paid

the pavement will be dirty again.

Sunshine bolts through the door following a woman

wearing a washed-out pink denim jacket.

We will see each other again and again

and again

over the course of today and will never acknowledge each other

apart from weird glances of 'oh it's her again'.

The espresso burns my throat like the ice from a cold lemonade

I plan to make but never will.

I take the smallest street possible where

my bag rubs up against the brick wall and

the stores are all abandoned

bright green with broken records by

Bob Dylan - Buddy Holly - Elvis Presley.

Shopfronts missing a sign,

apartments missing window glass.

Sunshine on a wooden frame spotlights the termites

trying to stay alive.

I emerge on the other side,

as do some termites racing on the tufted floor.

Faux grass patches from fifty years' ago.

All bright,

All colour,

The aching sprawl of-