underground parking garage (Patreon)

tonight i descended

exhausted and rushed

to fetch my car

from the bowels of an overpriced

underground parking garage

in manhattan

and while i was waiting in

the cavernous echo

i watched two people

get into a fight.

two cars entered the concrete womb

and screeched to halts

and a woman got out of one car

with a baby in a carrier

and a man in a baseball cap

got out of the other.

and in the muddled hurricane of

their screeching

i pieced together their story.

their cars had nearly collided

and the woman had said

something

to the man

that he had misunderstood

that had led to him

telling her to fuck herself

and her telling him

to go fuck himself

and before long

they realized

that he had misunderstood

the very first thing

she had said

that had led to this whole conflagration.

but it didn’t help that

he had misunderstood her.

they didn’t care.

they were too angry at this point

and within two minutes of

this shouting match beginning

he was shouting

lady

you need to just calm the fuck down

just so you know

i just lost my father

and she said

yeah well i am sorry to hear that

but i won’t calm down

i’ve got a baby here

and thank christ you didn’t kill her

you fucking madman

and god i missed new york

but i didn’t miss this

in new zealand

with everyone being all

quiet and suppressed

and murmury polite

and

she’ll be right

mate

she’ll be right

and the man

who’d just lost his dad

gave

as his red faced finale

to the raging lady with the baby

saying

i’m the calm one here

lady

i’m the calm one

you’re losing your shit

and i am the one being calm

and i squeezed my eyes shut

and i cried and laughed inside

and as i drove away

i saw him on the sidewalk

mr calm

who’d screamed

go fuck yourself

and i rolled the window down

and i said

hey i’m

real sorry

you just lost your dad

and he looked at me

with his baseball cap

and his sad sad tired eyes

and i said

my dad’s been sick

and

i have a little kid

and i understand you both

and

i think everybody is

truly

on the brink

of

losing it

right now

and he looked at me

and blinked back tears

and he said

thank you,

lady

thank you