Kaleidoscope

The tenants climb over each other
using sharp elbows to move people
aside. They are all a day late for their
payments and will be forced to
pay extra for the efforts of the front office.
At the end of this endeavor more than one of
them will walk back to their room with a black
circle around one of their eyes.

The streets are covered with ice thick enough
to skate on, but the plow drivers are all parked
in a circle passing a bottle of whiskey around.
They honk their horns and flash their headlights
whenever they see someone spin off the road and
into a ditch. Only once did the driver not climb
out of their car unscathed. They felt a little guilty
about that one but not enough to actually do anything.

The universe is a box with a small eye hole cut in
the top of it. When you look inside all the stars and
galaxies are like a kaleidoscope, but when you dial it
in on earth, and all of us, you can’t help but get the urge
to shake the box and create waves that start to fuck everything
up. It’s a lot like holding a wrapped present on Christmas
eve, or an ant farm when you’re still just a kid.
It’s hard to believe that those tiny things are alive and not just
there for your amusement, but they are alive and they feel
everything you do to them.