Exangel

by Brendan McBreen.

 

dusty pink plastic

and silk floral display

ocean and sky

mural

paint chipping

and faded

on a windowless wall

halogen lights

flicker

paper shuffles

occasional

poorly muffled cough

a chair

scraping

against linoleum floor

the air is sticky

though dry

sagging people

more drab

than their clothes

meander about

occasionally

one with purpose

clip-clopping

in the distance

the air is clear

the light too bright

but this place

makes one’s mind

hazy

makes people

focus in the miniscule

a place

designed

to be ignored

 

which is why

no one noticed

the raccoon

far from it’s comfort zone

stunned by the brightness

and faux bustle

and busy work around it

though it recovered quickly

like so many others

it couldn’t find

its way out

but soon

the smell

of stale doughnuts

and coffee grounds

drew it

to an almost familiar trash can

and lunch

 

the raven

just as perplexed

as the raccoon

perched upon a cubicle divider

and surveyed

it’s new territory

unobserved

by human jetsam

drifting obliviously by

 

a deer quietly drank

from a heavily fluoridated

drinking fountain

near stacks of binders

and the copy machine line

 

staplers clicked

code was retyped

and an inexplicable forest

began to grow

 

squirrels scurried through vents

owls hooted

coyotes yipped

wolves howled

fern was everywhere

and the ocean

on the wall

became real

 

the humans faded away

ghosts in their own lifetimes

while the tide

rolled in

undisturbed

and crabs scuttled for rocky shelter

seagulls

crying above

 

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