Up Against the Wall

It was horrific reading and yet I am almost numb to the violence that I continue to read about in that region and throughout the world. There seems to be some unresolved anger and hatred for the human condition. I believe in cause and effect no matter how indirect the cause. This is no excuse or justification but I can't help but think that violence isn't committed in isolation. It's ignited from external forces and flares out of control when other emotions and other aspects of life are out of balance. It seems to infect us, possess us and spread to others. It's obviously contagious and powerful. And the group dynamic is extremely overwhelming.

Up Against the Wall

He leaned up against the wall. She thought he was posing for an iron fist fantasy fight. Arms folded, stuffed, carved like turkey on Thanksgiving night. Sour faced, chewing a double lemon zinger mint numbed his taste. His eyes still saw a skirt colored bright like apple tomato paste. Flipping a tenth of a cent with a grimacing smile, jeans tight and restricting on the hips as an overprotective dad keeping a loose daughter from the wildness of the world (lips)
cheap jewelry swung from tiny earlobes like rotten plums on a neighbor’s tree
Colorful but not matching anything
Eyes heavy and regretful
Everyone moves in caution
Smiling wit closed lips and safe nods, gesturing non-threatening hand signals
bowing as if to a deity
Never making eye contact but somehow showing acceptance,
and a tolerance for difference, the other, the minority

Up against the wall
Hung black and white photography of Asian children in fields
Round faces with hunger
Dark grey blades of grass and lighter skies
Give an artsy effect of war poverty and disease (transcend euphemism)
In this dim lit room with concrete floors
Odd shaped wooden carvings and old piano furniture were/is scattered in corners
Old books donated from closed school filled the shelves like over crowded classrooms
Monogrammed mugs unified caffeine and non caffeine drinkers
School travel abroad brochures, organized protests, and flyers of upcoming open mic littered the windows
Ordinary people stood on make believe stages leading a creative revolution
Only missed by those plugged into laptop computers
And then ban
Commotion on one side stole energy from the stage a disturbing image of an insecure man angry at the power of his companion
This lack of control over her movement her decisions she makes
He yearns to change her fate, her will
Up against the wall
Shouted by tough girls in blue, given the work avoided by self respecting men of law enforcement
Strongly ply,nudge/squeeze their knees between the legs of harmless man
Work boots planted
twirling a baton, rather than leading a band, but instead to incapacitate this overweight man who smell of man made lakes or hot sewage
One las shove and his shoulder lost definition/shape reverting to a yielding/vulnerable surrendering
The performer on stage also lost the groove as the police woman began to dangle shiny cuffs first capturing his wrists placing them together in a downward prayer.
The woman in badges the glanced the café nodding and waving as isf at faithful fans
A performance finishing a touring a concert
Of oldies but goodies
Crowd favorites
Like get rid of that homeless smelly dude and shut up that
Up against the wall Black Man
The disturbance was inevitable, a dark rainy night
The streets full of dislodged beggars. Like a flock of beautiful birds bred in an unaccommodating city
Scarce sanity An open coffee shop invited anyone all safe comfortable like a garage of the coolest people on the block refrigerator always stocked games and junk to please welcoming fewer rules