Art by Anna Cappella
as if they were emaciated,
starved for weeks by the wardens,
five bicycles and a tire.
just two wrong turns in the east campus
garage will get you there
and so you will be just as lost as they are,
ownerless, unclaimed, unloved.
i ran towards them upon seeing them,
threw myself against the fence,
stretched my hand through its links.
knowing what it’s like to lose a wheel to a thoughtless thief
these five bikes and a tire
appeared to me as if
a tragedy so great.
the loss of self-propelled transportation.
as the dust continued to settle, i sank to my knees
what a life to live, where people take each other’s bikes and then leave them
and other people pick them up and put them in cages.
