50cc engine won't take me far

riding the storm surge out to sea
50cc engine won't take me far
i've come to realize that
the city i'm in is where i could be
asleep yet awake in the same breath.

there's a smoldering heat,
and a heavy haze in the air
what's the talk here among the elite?
image, status, riches, and selfish ends
what about the rural migrants selling lottery tickets,
or the man with the burnt face and missing limbs,
or the children forced to work on the streets,
or human beings being sold in broad daylight?

this is the arm of the machine
enjoy this exotic splendor they say
life here is cheap
get rich, worry later
work the system they say
for we are things not people.

riding the storm surge out to sea
50cc engine won't take me far
but i've got to get away from all this indifference
to a place where i know it could be different
where what i do matters so much more,
where people are not as exploited,
where life and death don't occur in the same breath.

alleyway jazz

I had headphones on my ears, the song set on repeat to an old jazz tune I've long forgotten. I knew precisely what I was doing--walking down that narrow alleyway, looking for a point of escape, creating a second reality. On a pale yellow wall where the sunlight was casting blotches of color in between the shadows, I stopped to look up. There in that brief moment, the piano began to echo a familiar tune. In the stillness, a middle aged woman dressed in purple pajamas with a conical hat atop her head motioned for me to move. Out of the way, she was gesturing--work to do, a family to feed, and so on. Pressing my back to the wall, the wheels on her vendor cart blurred off into the distance. Finding repose, I continued my walk and turned the corner. On the grey pavement, a sparrow had fluttered into existence. A female voice began to sing of a place that only existed in dreams. After a bit of mutual disinterest, it took flight into an unseen empty space. I scratched my head. Further down, squatting against a blue iron gate were two children busying themselves with some rocks they had found.