On the blue cupped plastic chair in the waiting room of
the Amtrak station
I confirm the differences between myself
and the ravished locals.
A large wobbly woman with a drenched tattered skirt
pushes her cart past ashen people
with missing teeth and invisible companions.
I conjure up her crimes and inadequacies.
Her cart, full of unrecognizable objects
swollen and gray,
like her thick legs, holds her weight on its front end.
I cross off two boxes on my “I am not one of them” list
__ trash carting
__ hoarder of nondescript gray objects
I rummage through my mind to confirm her failings.
Addicts are more likely emaciated
Criminals – bold and suspicious.
I will have to settle for some unnamed sloth or greed.
Anything to confirm her culpability.
I toss my half eaten egg and bacon sandwich into
a steel gray bin
and straighten up -
Conscious and respectable.
And note my resolutions.
