"They either go into shelters or they die"
he said matter-of-factly
walking in the other direction
and I shuddered
at hearing myself positioned in such a way
one inch away from homelessness
two from death.
And I think
that only decidedly mild-mannered men
when faced with a parking ticket
slam their coffee to the ground
only to have the scalding liquid
freeze into a solid block of ice.
(Dec 8, 2001)