Our Future is Now

Here I am at home eating chocolate to deal with the anxiety of a nation in distress 

Outside my home. 

In the neighborhood Where I live

Garbage 

I mean heaps of garbage 

I mean an abandoned shopping cart 

filled with detritus 

I mean a suitcase 

contents spilled out on the sidewalk 

Again eating chocolate because I don’t know what I can do

I am disabled

In a wheelchair I don’t know what to do

Call someone?

Who?

Will they care?

The homeless we always be there outside my building 

I think I’m safe

The day Alex was killed across the country 

I cried in the dark waiting for my transport which was over an hour late because the driver got caught behind protesters.

I felt vulnerable. 

I felt unsafe 

I felt abandoned 

I just wanted to get home. 

Who knew a National Tragedy would affect me in California?

I am a disabled woman in a wheelchair 

I wanted to be home and safe

WAS I?

(Damn! Where’s my chocolate?)