morning commute

a rough-looking man
and a gnarled-looking man huddle
at the bus stop, not waiting
for the bus--but waiting...

the rough-looking man wears
a shirt with a graphic of a curvaceous woman, naked
except for a thong. he offers a gas mask
to the gnarled-looking man and seems
to enter a well-known sales shtick.

it is a rotten world
when the waiting need protection
from the stench of the commuting.

orange peel

the day my mother
died, an orange peel fell--hit
the sidewalk.
                        a continuous
spiral--the skin collapsing over
on its rotting body--

                       the fruit
long gone, wandering.