one day i forgot how to imagine,
so i went outside for a walk.
it was dark out, and
i began my aimless foray:
i could see every crack and scuff on the sidewalks
and the walls of grimy buildings,
and all the broken glass,
and every piece of trash
adorning the urban wasteland,
plastic bags and cigarette butts and steel reserves
from the dejected souls of the midnight.
a night in streets deserted, drab in sleep;
in the desultory stroll, i felt contaminated,
solitary, gray, in fallen grace.
it seemed the world around me was drained
of anything resembling life, or affection,
mechanical, sickly, dirty and decaying.
for hours I did nothing but float
through the depraved maze of the city avenues,
haunted by my complicity in this horror
waiting for sleep to rapture me.