listening around this room
people all around, talking
speaking about the happenings of the day
about last nights game
tom brady going back to the superbowl
about how her arm has been paining her
about getting old
another couple walks in
60s, educated, well-dressed, somber
husband walks up to reception
while the wife waits in the lounge
in the section serving cancer patients
her foot twitches, eyes telling all
the beginning of the end
swimming around that neural pool
reminiscing in silence
the husband sits across from her
glances at his phone, as does she. silent
he mentions the lawsuit about Giuliani
she nods in acknowledgement, but clearly doesn’t care
my own thoughts swirl about
somewhat listening
mostly observing
thinking about the day-to-day routines
the automatics, the subconscious
the things that we do all the time
but never actually think about
what is the purpose of all of this
the days-in and days-out
humans are great at surviving
but not that great at living
I see it looking around
our actions and routines are as thoughtless
as a suction of air filling our lungs
and we continue to dance
a marionette on a string
we are pulling away at ourselves
thread by thread, fiber by fiber
until we are no more
