flattened raze i've seen it before. stepped around it and over it. but it took me a while to work out what it was. it was a disposable cigarette lighter. i say "was" because it's been stepped on so many times since the person who bought it threw it on the ground and forgot about it, it's flattened out into something that doesn't look much like a cigarette lighter anymore. the plastic i thought would break beneath the weight of one body has gone limp beneath the weight of many bodies, beneath the tires of cars, beneath the wheels of bicycles and strollers, beneath the weight of rain and sun, beneath the weight of eyes that never had any use for the flame it once gave, and its red has turned to something closer to pink. not the pink of skin or lips or skittish love, but the pink of something drained of its blood, drained of all that gave it life. flat but unbroken. and when i worked out what it was and how it got to be that way, it made me wonder if the same thing would happen to me if enough weight pressed down on me. 210417 ... itdoesntmatteranymoreitneverdid heart 210424 what's it to you? who go blather from