the windows are rattling / vibrating warrior drums / drumming up battle the traffic is doubling in immensity steel thrumming / brakes grinding / growling engines the vulgarity in population density thickets / then thickens gridlock cemented / tourism almost non-existent / instead new-residential-sales increase / billow / like sails on the gulf stream blowing in torrents of wind / hailing in the newcomer’s almighty dollars latching onto our sorrows / as we trail new trails / to avoid the inevitable clashes the horizon rising higher / flat-earthers swallow / the sunset / drunken beggars / maulers flatten silence with hollers / peaceful sunsetters forgotten / pollution increases two-bit liars ocean views lost to skyscrapers / modern boxes hatch like turtles on salted landscapes / if Hemingway saw this / as witness / his drunken brawls would pursue this / plot an escape / in third person / narrate a way out / I feel a sense of dread mixed with doubt / how long can this go on before the whole thing POPS like corn!
©Jay Mora-Shihadeh
Photo by Josiah Gibbs on Unsplash

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