He used to walk back and forth across overpasses
You would too
When I met him he said to me,
“Have you ever been in Chicago in the middle of the night?
When the whole city pauses in between breaths
In between screams
Day by Day
We ******* scream
Every ******* day we’re ******* screaming
And when there is no more breath
When there’s no more light
We wait and we simmer
All the while the hungry commuters flit back and forth under the auburn aurora of our hopeful solipsism.”
I did not answer him.
He was not asking a question.
And then I understood why he used to walk back and forth across overpasses.