he variety of human forms
Short, tall, fat, thin
Meld into a sea of shapes
I navigate on wheels among them
I swerve to pass
(Rather artfully I think)
Students who are window shopping
Drawing an arc around them
A sole witness,
An old man wearing a Grateful Dead cap,
Pumps his arms.
“Zoom zoom” he mouths through parched lips,
Egging me on.
Nodding, I jam my joystick forward,
Moving into a small open space
But the sea of shapes closes in
“Watch out,” someone says
“For the woman in the wheelchair.”
Releasing the joystick,
Amid the ebb and flow of bodies,
I can only think
How they all look the same to me,
The woman in the wheelchair.
Copyright 2008 Ruth Harrigan
