Bradley Musgrave | + Follow Poet |
Prose Poetry | + Fav Poem | Comment | Email | Print |

Crowded Buildings

I look across the tables filled with crowds of people and I see cliques, families, and couples. These are structures to me, under constant construction yet fully complete at the same time. There, stands pillars of popularity, supported by many butresses that cling on their every word. They are fastened together with nails of piercing laughter that could as easily be used to harm, but now are used to build up. These towers lack space for the smallest brick to be added, but are open enough to embrace another pillar of popularity equally as grand. I wouldn't fit in there. Near the monuments to 'fitting in', is a family. Facing each other, their backs create a wall that defend the home inside from outside intrusions. The eldest acts as a porticulus welcoming any brick of the same size and shape as the others but still screening out any foreign material from their inclusion. As they look toward each other, they believe that their bricks are all uniform and belong, but their wall is in fact spotted with misfit bricks and splatters of clashing paint. I wouldn't fit in there. By the window is a young couple, a pair of awkward and new pieces of lumber that don't match each other at all, yet they are cut to the same length. They are trying to glue themselves together and are under the false impression that the only way to do this is to leave absolutely no space between each other. The glue is fresh and the piece of lumber are not used to being adheased, but they are still fresh and plyable and they are intent on building their relationship. Given time, they too will become walls encircling homes with a heavy gate of their own. I wouldn't fit in there.

No one sits by me
I am better off alone
Here, by empty seats

It's okay. I'm alright, because from this vantage point I can observe. I see the groups and hear their conversations. I don't need to be a butress for one of the pilars of popularity. I don't need to be carved into the right shape for another wall. I don't need to impede the construction of a new building. I am content here, out of the way, surrounded by empty seats.

Please Login to post a comment