seen_on_the_sidewalk
tender square a lone eggplant near the bus stop. 210807
...
raze what first looked like the longest worm i'd ever seen, but later revealed itself to be a shoelace, removed from its eyelets and left behind without apology or explanation. 210807
...
unhinged lonely little baby gloves, shoes, socks

the sort of things little ones don't want separating them from the tactile world that often become nonverbal projectiles to gain attention

but
the device addicted adult
doesn't notice
the jettisoned articles
just like they
don't notice their
own little human
as they shove the stroller
out in front
face buried in a screen 		210807
...
kerry another card: jack of hearts 210807
...
kerry several people on our block are moving and their belongings are spilling from their front doors onto the sidewalk, with signs FREE scrawled in black marker on notebook paper
armoire with one door and no shelves
cracked terracotta pots rimmed with lacy mineral deposits
tiny tv circa 1985
empty picture frames all without glass
giant velvet painting of two cats embracing
heavy iron bell missing its clapper
painted white concrete elephant, lost the tip of its trunk
blue cardboard sided suitcase with a leather handle (i am tempted though i already have a sidewalk-scavenged cardboard suitcase; the dog is impatient, he stands there glaring as i contemplate and he says how would you carry the damn thing home, and who knows what’s inside, can we please get a move on??) 		210807
...
tender square fallen lilac lashes from a hosta's periscopic eye 210809
...
kerry squashed spotted lantern fly 210809
...
tender square e+e inscribed on fresh cement. 210810
...
unhinged a beautiful red felt tiny little baby shoe with white cartoonish flowers 210810
...
raze a fragment of bark curled in on itself, half a cylinder, half a piece of what it used to be. 210810
...
tender square a leaf so diseased it’s leopard spotted. 210810
...
tender square a tiny, quilted circular potholder (?) with a hot pink horse head blowing out the candles on what looks to be a hanukkiah (i passed to fast to count if there were 9 branches). 210812
...
tender square *too
(gah, damn typos. this is what i get for posting from my phone) 		210812
...
raze abstract art the sky made. every puddle a painting. 210812
...
tender square (i love it when that happens, raze!) 210812
...
raze (me too! i don't know. they just looked so ... pretty today.) 210812
...
unhinged tessellations of fall leaves

albers recommended using actual fall leaves in collage on color interaction studies. this idea hit me like a vajra_bolt ; i will finally indulge my childhood habit of collecting the pretty leaves this fall and quite literally make paintings with them.

yes 		210812
...
kerry fat tiny little birds eating froot loops

a cop coughed on me on the sidewalk, does that count? 		210812
...
raze a tapestry of twigs. 210814
...
raze a mermaid with dreadlocks. 210817
...
kerry raindrops 210817
...
raze a trail of crushed smarties. yellow, blue, green, and red, 210821
...
raze a wobbly caterpillar who might have had a little too much to drink. 210824
...
raze a conference of sparrows. 210826
...
unhinged so that's what all those crazy little puffballs with wings are doing in the blackberry thicket outside my window...they're having a conference! 210826
...
raze i swear i saw one of 'em taking minutes! they scattered as soon as i got too close, though. didn't want me to see what they were up to. 210826
...
raze what's left of those smarties now — burned out constellations in a grey sky. 210828
...
tender square a pocket bible, face up and turned to a page with a picture of an american flag waving. 210830
...
raze two words written in orange chalk, one on top of the other, with the bottom word underlined: "sicker one". 210831
...
raze the pulp of a squashed crabapple. 210902
...
kerry two empty packets of chinese cigarettes 210902
...
tender square written in blue and pink chalk: “julia will you be mine (gf)” and all the i’s were dotted with hearts. below the question were two checkboxes, one in the shape of a heart with the word “yes” appearing beside it and another box next to that with the word “nah.” (julia checked yes). 210904
...
unhinged trash
fast food wrappers
emptied sauce packets
paper cups laying on their side

a young crow
some of the feathers still downy
strutting on the sidewalk
flipping the cups and wrappers
scavenging for scraps


the_crow_caws_back 		210904
...
raze a plastic bag from the dollar store, repurposed by the wind as an improvised kite. not much height to speak of, but it moved with purpose. 210904
...
tender square a net full of starlings fueling on grass seed before taking flight. 210905
...
raze discarded apple slices browning in the sun. 210907
...
raze a leaf so thin and black i thought it was the feather of a crow. 210909
...
tender square a series of spraypainted r's for replace.

a blue plastic bubble wand. 		210909
...
kerry MARX carved into once-wet cement 210909
...
raze a stubborn ant walking backwards and dragging a helicopter seed eight times its size. 210911
...
tender square broken glass like shattered rock candy 210912
...
tender square a vacated bird's nest 210913
...
kerry a flattened rat. 210913
...
raze little splotches of paint: black, mint green, pink, and black. 210914
...
raze (i guess there was a lot of black paint.) 210914
...
tender square a red pipe cleaner looped into a misshapen ring

a popped foil birthday balloon (guess the party’s over) 		210915
...
tender square a box filled with red and white plastic hangers 210916
...
raze a strip of tree bark that looked like the tread worn off of a tire, and a handwritten name tag with the beginning of the name torn off. "ara" was what was left. she could have been sara, or clara, or marinara. i'll never know. 210916
...
kerry half of a chocolate glazed donut 210917
...
raze one word written in white chalk:

"finish"

with the line of the h extended until it broke apart and became wisps of smoke leaving a strange chimney.

thirty feet of that. maybe more.

something is over or about to end. 		210918
...
raze one half of an unripe strawberry. 210921
...
tender square pin cherries crushed underfoot. 210921
...
raze a green leaf as big as my face. 210923
...
tender square a big pile of black walnuts encased in their lime-green shells; i am reminded of the janitor climbing the roof of our elementary school to throw down all the tennis balls we accidentally lobbed up there playing butt burners. 210923
...
kerry a very shiny granny smith apple 210923
...
raze a rained-on kleenex tissue that looked like a lump of dirty mashed potatoes. 210925
...
tender square a twisted earthworm looking like a rusted nail. 210925
...
tender square a splayed and cracked branch that resembled the carcass of a red-tailed hawk from afar. 210926
...
raze an unsharpened pencil. 210928
...
tender square an upside-down blue jay feather. i picked it up and carried it with me the whole walk, so that the other blue jay feather i display on my desk could have a twin. the new feather is longer than the first one i’d found last year—the two of them curve into one another like they’re spooning. 210930
...
raze a travel size bottle of mouthwash, with just enough liquid left in the bottle to let me know what used to live inside that plastic shell was blue. 210930
...
tender square well, near the sidewalk anyway: a barn red fairy door at the base of an oak tree in a neighborhood by the arb. there were no gifts left on the altar outside of it; i’ll look for something over the coming week to make my first offering when i pass it again next sunday. (ann arbor is obsessed with fairy doors) 211001
...
tender square a remnant of pita bread, split down the seam and opened; a eucharistic Rorschach blot. 211002
...
raze the shards of a shattered blue pen cap. 211002
...
tender square a tiny acorn the size of my thumbnail; a tangerine maple leaf smaller than my palm—gifts picked up to make an offering at a fairy door outside the arb next week. 211003
...
raze hundreds of yellow and orange leaves as fall_fell_down. 211005
...
tender square a rejected BBQ with morning glory climbing up each metal leg. 211006
...
raze a small pink paper heart already fading from being mistreated, with a name on the front: isla lepain.

why would you leave your heart on the ground for anyone to step on?

don't answer that. i know why. 		211007
...
kerry a wooden crate full of bright yellow lemons. 211007
...
raze five green and brown caterpillars doing their collective slow dance, each undulation a spit in the eye of despair, and a sixth that didn't make it. 211009
...
tender square in a divot between the sidewalk and the curb, the most lush and vibrant strip of emerald moss i’ve ever seen. 211010
...
raze a half-smoked cigarette, with what was left of its tobacco hanging from the tip like a wild mess of brown crinkle paper poking out of a gift basket. 211011
...
raze a pinwheel of dried-out brown leaves. 211012
...
raze a black scrunchy that looked like a coiled telephone cord. but not isla's pink heart. that's gone now. i hope whoever took it was worthy of it. 211014
...
raze two worms, dried out and curled into stillness, not quite touching but close enough to make me wonder if their dying act was to try and get as close to each other as they could. 211016
...
tender_square a solitary turquoise glass stone 211017
...
raze three pine cones, each one taller and more expansive than the last. 211019
...
raze a packet of fast food ketchup so beaten down by the elements, at first i thought it was a dirty receipt. 211021
...
raze a bracelet of beads. red, purple, blue, yellow, and green. i was wondering why someone would throw a thing like that away until i picked it up and tiny beads started sliding off of the string. the circle was broken. 211023
...
nr sometimes when this page pops up, it reminds me i should go outside and actually see a sidewalk 211023
...
tender_square (i’ve avoided writing about it for a week now, and yet i’ve passed it about 15 times)

a black leather computer chair with two small, evenly placed, pierced holes in the lower cushion, but otherwise lacking any other visible flaw. no takers. 		211023
...
tender_square a single white high-top adidas sneaker with mud in its treads. its mirrored mate was nowhere to be seen. 211024
...
raze fragments of blue wire, now little more than filthy stir sticks without any liquid to manipulate. 211026
...
raze an irregular trail of rose petals. 211028
...
tender_square gutters swollen with rainwater and sodden leaves

thousands of concentric circles ringing in passing puddles 		211029
...
raze a drinking straw with one end sharpened to a spear point, made menacing by damage that would have reduced other lengths of polypropylene plastic to flattened casualties. 211030
...
tender_square four maple leaves neatly lined and evenly spaced against a gleaming white slab, in an array of browning—cinnamon, syrup, pecan, caramel—as if it were a horizontal gallery display on sweet decay. 211030
...
tender_square the intact bottom half of a broken grey goose bottle, sharded in tandem with the mountain landscape of the label, and filled with an amalgam of vodka and dew drops. 211031
...
raze the detritus of a smashed pumpkin. 211102
...
tender_square freshly fallen leaves, vibrant in their butterscotch and basil hues, scattered across the roadway like the last remnants of a happy parade passing through. 211103
...
raze a well-chewed piece of pink bubblegum, now a tiny brain without a skull to hold it. 211104
...
tender_square what i’ve dubbed “frond wand,” which is really a discarded hosta leaf that’s surprisingly vital given the time of year, that i picked up and will use as part of my witchy new moon ritual this evening *poof*. 211104
...
raze a big brown leaf doing its best imitation of a cruller. 211106
...
raze a tattered sheet of fabric softener. the loneliest veil i've ever seen, meant for a face too small to sit on any human body. 211109
...
tender_square a black, unclasped zip tie, a faceless watch reflecting the only time we have: right now. 211109
...
raze a staple remover with a purple handle. 211111
...
tender_square a shivering bunch of tea-stained hosta leaves bracing against wind. 211111
...
tender_square thousands of red oak leaves, their bristle-tipped silhouettes like toppled evergreens. 211112
...
raze a black disposable lighter with broken teeth and the word "breeze" on its side. 211113
...
tender_square a napkin wad spitballed by rain and smeared into a comet. 211113
...
raze a bifurcated white plastic fork. 211114
...
tender_square a psychedelic swirl of gasoline in a puddle. 211115
...
raze a deflated helium balloon with a very confused-looking minnie mouse on the front. 211116
...
raze a dented bottle of boost. 211118
...
tender_square a renegade hubcap turned collection plate for golden leaves. 211118
...
kerry illuminated plastic figurines: the nativity scene
reminder of how catholic this neighborhood is 		211118
...
kerry a blue plastic unicorn figurine, barely visible under crunchy fallen leaves 211119
...
raze the red stem of a green leaf squirming in the breeze like a skinny little worm. 211120
...
tender_square a black pair of square-rimmed eyeglasses with a phantom arm. 211120
...
tender_square a dirty, white work glove waving to passing cars from atop a fire hydrant. 211121
...
tender_square pothole lockets holding the memory of leaves in looking-glass ice. 211123
...
raze a blue mask with a broken string that i first mistook for a small, tattered flag with its pole mangled beyond recognition. 211123
...
raze a damp magenta post-it note that said:

"shams
do *not* touch"

(no apostrophe) 		211125
...
tender_square piñata pumpkins smashed, seeds scattered. 211127
...
raze a rejected teal umbrella. 211127
...
tender_square tributaries of glacial melt slipping to sewer. fireworks of baby blue rock salt mid-burst. 211129
...
raze chips of ice between the cracks. 211130
...
raze jagged spirals of orange peel, not pulled apart by hungry fingers, but separated from what was concealed with the blade of a knife. 211201
...
unhinged a small boy
maybe seven or eight
moonwalking to the curb
to check if his bus was coming 		211202
...
unhinged a small boy
maybe seven or eight
moonwalking to the curb
to check if his bus was coming

get down little man
get down 		211202
...
tender_square a brilliant bronze serrated leaf, its texture a well-worn leather smooth against my fingertips. 211202
...
raze a silver tongue of aluminum foil. 211202
...
raze a piece of white gum hardened to concrete. 211204
...
tender_square an ornamental black pine cone, curled petal tips dipped in beige and spotted with crystallized sap. 211205
...
tender_square (forgot to post this days ago)
a snapped yellow elastic band, ends overlapping in the ouroboros of a rat snake. 		211207
...
raze a bag of dog shit. 211207
...
raze a single green leaf in a sea of brown. 211209
...
tender_square an empty taco bell hot sauce packet on a cold, cold day. 211209
...
kerry an elderly woman making the sign of the cross. 211210
...
tender_square a big ol’ hearty puddle of leafy soup.

a fallen yellow guy-wire marker like a piece of bucatini. 		211211
...
raze a pair of purple sunglasses. 211211
...
tender_square a burned up box spring. 211212
...
raze a pine cone the colour of a vanilla wafer cookie. 211212
...
raze a river of spit. 211214
...
tender_square a blond pair of twigs, evenly crossed, demarking an “x” for treasure beneath concrete. 211215
...
raze an empty ziploc bag folded accordion style. 211216
...
tender_square a contorted black glove with bits of broken leaves and debris stuck to the polyester. 211216
...
tender_square a round, flat washer missing its companion bolt, like a promise ring without its intended’s finger. 211217
...
raze a sequence of drowned leaves. 211218
...
tender_square sharded ice scattered and broken from the molds of electrical wires and skeleton branches 211220
...
kerry a dollar bill 211220
...
raze two packets of heinz white vinegar. 211221
...
raze a white ribbon knotted into an intricate bow, separated from whatever gift it once decorated. it looked like an angel reaching for something that wasn't there anymore. 211223
...
raze drops of rain dancing on the surface of a puddle the size and shape of a small country on a large map. 211225
...
tender_square a beautiful brown bunny nimbly bounding through slush. 211227
...
raze a ragged triangle of pita bread. 211228
...
kerry christmas detritus: shredded wrapping paper, bows and ribbons, boxes 211229
...
tender_square a navy pair of soggy men’s briefs nesting in an oakwood. 211229
...
raze a broken wire record rack. 211230
...
tender_square a blue ballpoint bic perfectly nestled between the valley of two sidewalk slabs.

belly-busting scoops of vanilla ice cream made by the curve of snowplows. 		211230
...
raze written in coral pink chalk:

NYE
FFR

followed by a curved arrow pointing at nothing. 		220101
...
tender_square a ran over rabbit i initially mistook for a cat, its entrails long and curled on the pavement like al dente spaghetti thrown against a wall. 220102
...
raze a green hand towel so beaten-down by the elements, i thought it was guacamole until i saw the tag. 220104
...
tender_square an unopened 2 liter of canada dry. 220104
...
raze the chalk outline of a screaming dinosaur. 220106
...
tender_square two hearts.

the first was a torn leaf i picked up on the sidewalk, a tree valentine. the second was on a patch of sidewalk where the snow had melted, and the surrounding white gave it shape. 		220106
...
raze a leaf made of ice. 220111
...
tender_square an electric blue drawstringed cover for a sleeping bag. 220111
...
raze a second hand towel the same colour as the first one, but much more vibrant than its ravaged relative. 220112
...
kerry a valentine's card: red, heart-shaped, with a white frilly border and angels on the front. 220112
...
raze one black cotton glove, twisted into a shape no human hand would ever willingly submit to. 220113
...
tender_square a white handkerchief with an ornate lace corner, lying in the gutter, nearly mistaken for snow. 220113
...
tender_square a manila envelope and a green debit card. i picked both up looking for an address to return it, saw a pair of keys inside the envelope. the owner of the property caught me, came out on her porch, thought i was trying to swipe it. "that's mine," she said hastily. she left it on the ground as payment for the tow truck driver who was loading her vehicle onto the truck bed. 220114
...
raze a frozen elastic band. 220115
...
tender_square a crumple of lemony tissue paper choking a gutter.

the ghost of a cellophane wrapper waving on a frozen lawn.

a bob mill’s banana nut breakfast bar, intact, beside a tire. 		220115
...
raze a faded black smiley_face. 220118
...
tender_square a red shoelace in a drizzle swirl. an upside-down paper plate. the copper cone of a dead and dried hydrangea. 220118
...
raze a magazine insert that said, "the sweat isn't virtual." white words on a black background. 220119
...
raze a blue pacifier. 220120
...
tender_square a dollar bill. 220120
...
raze a lime green cigarette lighter so flat and dispirited, i still think it's a scuffed pack of throat lozenges every time i see it (and i see it all the time). 220121
...
tender_square the same dollar bill from the day prior. yesterday i slipped it beneath the wiper blade on someone's windshield. today it was on the grass, so i scooped it and took it as a token of good luck. it worked: my old job wants to hire me back. 220121
...
raze what looked like "tst" written in blue spray paint. 220122
...
tender_square a pokémon card. i guess the person who dropped it really couldn’t catch them all. 220122
...
raze crumbling cities made of slush. 220125
...
tender_square a paper with the word “pow” written in pencil by a child, filling the whole page, and one block later, a split band-aid wrapper. 220127
...
raze a soggy trail of shredded wheat. 220127
...
raze a dark blue ball of yarn coming undone. 220128
...
raze six brown eggs. 220129
...
raze an empty bottle of heineken. 220201
...
kerry a frozen mouse. 220201
...
tender_square a red blow pop with a snapped neck.

a crumpled paper bag doing its best impersonation of a tumbleweed.

wet footprints from bodies that had walked before me. 		220201
...
tender_square a family of flattened beer cans. 220202
...
raze a flooded sweat sock. 220202
...
raze piss-stained patches of snow. 220203
...
raze the grey and white clouds and uninhabitable planets left behind by flour-flecked feet. 220205
...
tender_square a shopping cart full of snow. 220205
...
tender_square a short snowman sporting a buffalo plaid ball cap. 220206
...
raze a dental floss pick floating in a puddle. 220208
...
tender_square wet dog shit. 220208
...
tender_square the aforementioned snowman of three days ago, decapitated, ball cap empty and upturned. 220209
...
raze an empty, abandoned shopping cart edged with blue. 220210
...
tender_square the fuselage of a lemon-colored mechanical pencil, shattered in the street. 220210
...
kerry an old globe: "for free" 220210
...
kerry an old globe: "for free" 220210
...
raze an orange bottle cap liner that looked like someone tried to eat it before thinking better of it. 220211
...
raze a dead lithium battery. 220212
...
raze another oval loop of rubber, this one looking tan and wan and out of ideas. 220213
...
tender_square two yellow plastic ties sliced from cinching a newspaper bundle, representing two ways we perceive time: one lying linear, from point a to point b, while its mate curved circular, in cycles of overlap. 220213
...
tender_square paper masks discarded and dirtied on every street corner, in every gutter, in every snowbank. how many words were wasted while they were worn? 220214
...
raze a heart-shaped rupture in the cement. 220215
...
tender_square the half carcass of a crushed aluminum can revealed in a melting snowbank. 220215
...
tender_square a plane of ice, fissured into a fjord of running river.

the wrapper from a pack of “space jam: a new legacy” trading cards (would have been way cooler if it was from the 1996 original).

ten egotistic q-tips with swollen heads. 		220216
...
past trucks parked, because they said the road is a fire route. so they'd rather make kids walking to and from school walk in traffic than park legally a block away. because the mob downtown has shown that rules don't apply if you're in a trick. i am so tired. 220217
...
raze a tarnished strip of bubble wrap. 220217
...
raze the splintered dregs of a blue ballpoint pen. 220218
...
raze one lonely leaf of spinach. 220219
...
tender_square the treads of a truck making a relief in snow, the pattern alternating between a line and two dots, a line and two dots, a series of snake-eyed dominos laying a path back to maplewood. 220220
...
kerry a 2x4 with a handwritten sign: "free wood: there's a joke in here somewhere" 220221
...
tender_square an empty box of swedish fish in a puddle, their red undulating bodies nowhere to be found. 220221
...
tender_square a small black travel comb, grounded.

what i initially thought was a dog halter but was actually a traction cleat. 		220222
...
raze a clear plastic fast food straw with the lid still attached, looking like a long cigarette dangling from a cynical mouth. 220222
...
raze the indifferent white basin of an empty yogurt container. 220223
...
raze an uneaten apple that was a dead ringer for a miniature pumpkin. 220224
...
past unmoved cars sitting in their driveways, with icicles hanging from their bodies all the way to where they're seamlessly integrated into the icy ground. 220224
...
raze the same dental floss pick, too stubborn to move while everything around it shifts and expands and contracts. 220225
...
raze a dead purple balloon. 220226
...
tender_square a bitty dog prancing in a fur-lined parka like a park avenue bitch. 220226
...
raze a pine cone immersed in a pool of melted ice. 220227
...
tender_square finches perched on the broken tube of a bike tire. 220227
...
raze the sad mound made by a forsaken dark blue scrunchie. 220228
...
tender_square a ninja figurine, face down, in a fight stance. 220228
...
raze a broken piece of green plastic in the shape of a boot. 220301
...
raze an empty, upside_down plastic takeout sauce container. 220302
...
tender_square eight potatoes gathered at the trunk of a tree. 220302
...
past the city designed crosswalks so both ends are often filled with water, perhaps forgetting that active weather is a thing and that melt and rain water seeks the lowest point. between ice treatments and the temperatures slowly creeping up in the pre-spring sun, they exist between snow, ice, and water, not solid anymore but not yet liquid, turning the sun's reflection into a dappled vision of a full moon. 220302
...
past (a misblathe, but a fitting one. this was intended to go under "snirt" but the cave collapsed and i forgot) 220302
...
raze chapstick that's touched its last pair of lips. 220303
...
tender_square the chewed core of a golden delicious. a dirty diaper in a filthy snow pile. a professorial-looking peppa pig toy with an amputated ear and arm. 220303
...
raze a blister pack of pills, bereft of whatever it held before fingernails tore into soft grey circles of pre-formed plastic. 220304
...
past the tattered remains of orange tshirts tied into a chain link fence, remnants of a memorial left out too long. 220304
...
raze a crushed can of iced tea. 220305
...
raze a capsized pink purse. 220306
...
raze a compressed tim hortons cup, buried beneath the grey chalk of shoe dirt. 220307
...
tender_square a bottle of hand lotion. a bottle of hand sanitizer. 220307
...
raze clusters of foreign fruit and unfastened foliage. 220308
...
tender_square a puppy crate. a piece of purple chalk. 220308
...
raze a battered juice box. 220309
...
raze an apple eaten down to the core, ants feasting on what was left of its flesh. 220310
...
raze a curled straw: a see-through candy cane out of season. 220311
...
raze a fallen yellow flag. 220312
...
raze a headless plastic spoon. 220313
...
tender_square a bleached and bloated clementine. an unfurled pewter sleeping bag. 220313
...
raze a disemboweled green pepper. 220314
...
past children dancing barefoot in the spring snow. 220314
...
tender_square waterlogged flyers inadvertently flyposted face down on wet cement. 220314
...
past a squirrel running down the sidewalk with an opened but seemingly whole granola bar in its mouth. 220315
...
past a man clearing ice from a storm sewer drain using a machete and a children's shovel. 220315
...
tender_square unbroken u-locks wrapped around empty loop wave bike racks. 220315
...
raze the sideways smile of a clipped piece of vinyl hose. 220316
...
raze a four-leaf clover drawn with green sidewalk chalk. 220317
...
tender_square a lime-green loogie. 220317
...
raze a strip of tree bark doing its best impression of a corroded harmonica. 220318
...
raze a tipped-over pot without a plant, collecting rainwater. 220319
...
raze a muddy latex glove. 220320
...
raze a fractured stick. 220321
...
tender_square a tampon with a purple applicator and lilac string. 220321
...
raze an orange plastic bracelet. 220322
...
raze more tendrils of orange peel, these ones trampled underfoot. 220323
...
raze a woman carrying a half-empty corrugated cardboard case of beer. not drunk, but lost. 220324
...
raze an unfastened coffee sleeve. "wishing you coffee and joy," it said, and beneath those words, the same sentiment was translated into french. 220325
...
tender_square patio furniture stacked and sprinkled with sequins of rain beside flower boxes sprouting cigarette butts. 220325
...
raze a robin hopping over a puddle of wet snow that couldn't keep itself together. 220326
...
tender_square a lucky 7’s lotto ticket with silver latex scratched. 220327
...
raze a triangular sliver of chocolate bar wrapper, with only the nutritional information intact. black text on a white background framed by brown. 220328
...
tender_square a single stalk of straw. 220328
...
epitome of incomprehensibility A crisp, crisscrossing snow stencil deposited from the tread of a boot. It looked vaguely like a Chinese letter, white on grey. 220328
...
raze shadows of thin branches building a spectral latticework to step through. 220329
...
tender_square a joker card from an NYC-themed deck, the empire state building poised like a syringe in place of a jester. 220329
...
raze a crippled can of zevia lemon lime twist. 220330
...
tender_square a pepper packet. 220331
...
raze pine cones rolling like tumbleweeds in the bellicose wind. 220331
...
raze a disfigured piece of foam rubber. 220401
...
tender_square an orgy of fornicating fibers that either escaped from a nearby lint trap or fell from a bird’s nest. 220401
...
raze a little trees black_ice air freshener. 220402
...
tender_square a squashed glitter pen purged of its sparkles. 220402
...
raze a water bottle cap, its featureless face upturned and waiting for rain. 220403
...
raze a string without the mask it was once attached to, looking like the longest white twist tie i'd ever seen. 220404
...
raze a macerated snail shell. 220405
...
tender_square a pounded pack of pall malls. 220406
...
raze a dead worm masquerading as a villainous handlebar moustache. 220407
...
raze the mutilated corpse of an orange bicycle spoke reflector. 220408
...
raze a sad face, with puddles for eyes and a bowed twig for a mouth. 220409
...
raze a small brown leaf poking through the pit in a blue pen cap's ponytail. 220410
...
tender_square a fragile white feather, with strands of keratin finely separated like the teeth of a comb. 220410
...
raze a bulbous ball of aluminum foil. 220411
...
raze an empty bulk box of m&ms. 220412
...
tender_square shards of egg shell with a streak of albumen and vitellus.

a black liquor bag trapped in a tree upturning as a raven's wingspan with every breath of wind. 		220412
...
raze a hair tie in a heavy coat of dirt. 220413
...
tender_square a small, pale yellow piece of rope folded and knotted into an ankh. 220413
...
raze a great dane decapitated by shadow. 220414
...
tender_square a rippled emerald sphere leftover from christmas, reflecting the street in a new perspective along each angled plane. 220415
...
raze a heart-shaped puddle. 220416
...
kerry a turquoise bowling ball with "jeff" on it 220416
...
raze a scrap of orange peel and a thin twig collaborating to create a strange flower no dirt had ever touched. 220417
...
past a message in yellow and blue chalk:

"even if we can't beat putin we can eat poutine."

extra points for the bilingual pun because "putin" is often transliterated as "poutine" in french. 		220417
...
tender_square a crumpled wad of tinfoil that looked like a squat angel. 220418
...
raze wet paper towels. 220419
...
raze a prismatic piece of plastic coffee cup, cracked down the middle. 220420
...
tender_square a thin layer of ice atop of puddles, wrinkled just like seran wrap. 220420
...
tender_square a hot-pink peep bludgeoned by a shoe. 220421
...
raze the stump of a flattened cigarette. 220421
...
raze a neoprene strap emancipated from the pair of glasses it once kept from slipping. 220422
...
tender_square a sodden box of unwanted stemware and vases, the bordeaux bowls filled with last night's rain. 220423
...
raze an angry woman raking leaves. 220423
...
raze a green plastic bag in a puddle. 220424
...
tender_square the fallen chiffon petals of a dogwood tree. 220424
...
raze a red fine-tip permanent marker. 220425
...
tender_square a half-crushed and overturned foil container making heliographs. 220425
...
raze a homeless hunk of sytrofoam. 220426
...
tender_square a mountain of mulch. 220426
...
raze a wet worm curled into a loose knot. 220427
...
tender_square a breeze vape aspirating nicotine no more. 220427
...
raze a long, thin purple balloon without breath to give it form. 220428
...
raze three uneaten sour keys. 220429
...
tender_square a purple sock. 220429
...
raze a tea bag's toe tag. 220430
...
raze two hooded men sharing a joint. 220501
...
tender_square printed cellophane tossed from a bouquet of haus bloom flowers. 220501
...
tender_square professional painters with extended rollers layering the world in beige. 220502
...
raze wet shit everywhere. 220503
...
tender_square a robin angling for a worm that slipped from its beak. 220503
...
past a pile of sticks, labelled in chalk "styx for dogs."

the thought was nice but the label perhaps a bit grim. 		220503
...
raze a decaying banana. 220504
...
raze a wizened wedge of uncooked wiener. 220505
...
raze a glossy placard advertising eighteen free meals. 220506
...
raze a broken bicycle handlebar grip. 220507
...
raze the empty blue reservoir of an absent super soaker. 220508
...
raze a dirty napkin curled into a miniature strongman's torso, frozen in flimsy flexion. 220509
...
tender_square a lifeless armadillo. 220509
...
raze a string of squashed dandelions. 220510
...
raze one very brave beetle. 220511
...
raze a yellow gummy bear. 220512
...
raze three curved arrows
that set me walking
in a circle
and left me wondering
about the hands
that painted those pink lines. 		220513
...
raze a pine cone splattered with bird shit. 220514
...
raze the crushed corolla of caprifoliaceae. 220515
...
tender_square on a single block, a bottle of rolling rock, a half-broken bottle of corona, and a bottle of dos equis. (i guess this is what happens when corner stores sell “packaged liquor.”) 220516
...
tender_square two roaches: first, the body of a bug; second, the last of a joint. 220517
...
raze a lumpy phallus someone drew with white chalk. 220517
...
raze a sneaky spider. 220518
...
kerry a big-ass possum, which waddled into the courtyard of the rec center and then into the playground. 220518
...
raze a coaster with the french word for "authentic" tattooed across its face. 220519
...
raze a lonely can of pringles. 220520
...
tender_square a mini butterfinger that slipped from someone's butterfingers. 220521
...
raze clotted clumps of wet grass. 220521
...
tender_square a clip-on poo-bag dispenser shaped in the likeness of a bone. 220522
...
raze a smiling cartoon dog on a green plastic bag. 220523
...
tender_square a conjoined clump of catkins fallen from oak trees. 220523
...
raze a warped piece of grey plastic with the name "sam" on one_side. 220524
...
tender_square a pale pinecone shadow-stretching in the morning sun, and for a moment i thought it was a baby pineapple. 220525
...
tender_square a wad of black electrical tape. 220526
...
tender_square a black and white cat with a face like the half mask-wearing phantom of the opera. 220527
...
raze a granny smith apple that didn't live long enough to reach retirement age. 220527
...
raze a forked twig that would have made a decent slingshot. 220528
...
tender_square a receipt from meijer. 220528
...
raze the severed head of a ziploc bag, too tired to dream of what it held once. 220529
...
past the snaking lines of extension cords reaching from houses on one side of the street, across the road and sidewalk, into their neighbours doors and windows.

over a week since the derecho, scattered pockets of the city (tens of thousands of people) are still without power. 		220529
...
raze another steamrolled juice box. 220530
...
tender_square a mint-green heart drawn and filled in with the impermanence of chalk. 220531
...
raze damaged airplane parts in the form of a torn piece of pink bubble mailer. aileron unfastened from fuselage. 220601
...
raze a moisture-made question mark. 220602
...
raze cracked chips of wood. so many crippled doorstops. 220603
...
tender_square an empty pack of parliament 100’s, top flipped open; the white border of the box a gallery wall showcasing an abstract painting of a teal and purple triangle touching, the cellophane jacket a crinkled silver overlay. 220603
...
raze a vacant bag of glosette raisins. 220604
...
raze a fly drinking the moisture that pooled around a leaf. 220605
...
raze a puddle with ears. 220607
...
e_o_i A yellow-green powdery substance at the edge of rain puddles or marbled into the water.

At first I thought this was washed-away chalk, but I kept seeing it in different places, so I guessed

a) some kind of pollen?
b) chalk that the city uses, so it's the same colour in multiple places?
c) an alien slime that's slowly taking over the world, starting with Dorval? 		220607
...
past e_o_i it's the remains of little fairies who tried to dance in the rain..... well, tree pollen if we're less poetic. 220608
...
tender_square circles of foil confetti scattered like a hundred mirrors reflecting sky. 220608
...
raze the fractal framework of an ant in motion. 220609
...
tender_square two passionate clothes pins, prongs nested and gripping each other intensely. 220609
...
raze a barren bottle of water. 220610
...
e_o_i (past, are you suggesting that slime aliens *wouldn't* choose Dorval, Quebec as their base of operations for world conquest?)

Pine needles fallen in V shapes. At least three. A tactile VVV to counter, though not oppose, the abstract WWW worldwide web. 		220611
...
tender_square a peeled-off latex glove with fingers giving the hang loose sign. 220612
...
raze a black plastic butter knife. 220613
...
raze two seeds in an open pod. 220614
...
tender_square a deserted bunch of halls wrappers thrown along a corridor of concrete slab. 220614
...
raze a square of grey duct tape no longer deemed necessary. 220615
...
tender_square a pair of black and grey maxi-fit gloves configured into the shape of a road-killed skunk. 220615
...
raze the vacant plastic wrapper of a jumbo freeze pop. 220616
...
raze one maple_seed merged with another to become a headless brown bird. 220617
...
tender_square a flaccid blue balloon. 220617
...
raze torn construction tape. 220618
...
tender_square pinnate leaves lost like loose hairs from crowns of white ash. 220618
...
raze a banana peel with its legs parted and bent, locked in the illusion of constant motion. 220619
...
tender_square a pink drink cup and matching lid emblazoned with the words "life is good" in teal, its former contents staining the street a darker shade of forked grey. 220619
...
raze a pile of poop wrapped in a bright orange plastic bag. 220620
...
raze half a hardboiled egg. 220621
...
raze a tiny red rubber band. 220622
...
tender_square "finish" written in faded purple chalk. 220622
...
raze written in green sidewalk chalk:

"j + c = 옷 옷"

and above the two stick_figures, in blue:

"friends" 		220623
...
raze a rusted metal bracket. 220624
...
tender_square a turkey taking a stroll. 220624
...
raze one word: "run." 220625
...
raze a silver string. 220626
...
raze a twig that almost tricked me into thinking it was the chewed-off tip of a cigarette. 220627
...
tender_square a durex wrapper in the hand of a nitrile glove (no glove, no love). 220627
...
kerry a batman action figure with its arms and legs torn off 220627
...
e_o_i A bird poop stain shaped like a swan. 220627
...
raze the word "comb" written with green spray paint, followed by a line that led to nothing. 220628
...
raze a purple rubber ball. 220629
...
tender_square a basketball resting by a tree. 220629
...
raze a heart-shaped dent filled with dirt. 220630
...
tender_square a dunkin' donuts bag filled with dog shit, flies abuzz. 220701
...
raze a yellow leaf gone green with age or envy. 220702
...
tender_square a black corded dustbuster sucking by the side of the road. 220702
...
tender_square a turquoise sticker from a garage sale, pricing a sidewalk slab for $3. 220703
...
tender_square the capsule shell of a discharged firework. 220704
...
raze a bat made of tree bark. 220705
...
tender_square a brita water dispenser purifying raindrops. 220706
...
raze a tag that fell or was torn from a piece of clothing. "streetwear society," it said. 220707
...
tender_square a thick twig imitating a cigar stub.

a jettisoned fruit of the loom hang tag. 		220707
...
raze a puddle in the shape of a bald man wearing a cape. 220708
...
tender_square a downspout extension violently vomiting water. 220708
...
raze a blue threaded screw. 220709
...
raze another fallen clothing tag. this one had the word "assassin" on it. 220710
...
tender_square a torn white lawn flag bearing the words "invisible fence." 220710
...
tender_square a branch with four amber leaves in a circle of outstretched hands, a natural weather vane reaching to the four corners of the earth. 220712
...
raze the shrivelled shell of a red insect, dead on its back. 220712
...
e_o_i Sidewalk_furniture, sort of. Besides the sidewalk last week were piled old chairs and broken tables, probably from someone's move. Among those was a large framed painting of a grey-haired couple. When I went back again, the painting had been moved a few yards away, as if set aside.

My mind made sad associations: maybe the people in it had died, and no one wanted their picture. But then I thought not necessarily - why, the painting didn't very old. Maybe both or one of the people in it simply didn't like it or have room for it. I'll probably never know. 		220712
...
e_o_i correction: didn't LOOK very old 220712
...
raze a shiny six-year-old dime. 220714
...
tender_square sandbags for a street sign. 220714
...
raze a glass bottle cap with blackened teeth. 220715
...
tender_square a enwin utilities bill torn to tatters. 220715
...
raze five robins and a starling taking turns bathing in a wide puddle. 220716
...
tender_square two, fully operational, bell payphone booths outside of a convenience store. 220717
...
raze a star-shaped grain of cereal. 220718
...
tender_square a green bookshelf. a red stool. a mound of black trash bags. a rollator walker thrown from the house of someone who may have just died. 220718
...
raze a mcdonald's french fry pouch, now devoid of starchy tenants. 220719
...
past a dessicated mouse, feet in the air, mouth partly open as if begging for a drop of water. 220719
...
tender_square the crushed cyan of a robin's egg underfoot. 220719
...
raze another animal figurine forged from the sloughed-off skin of a sardonic tree. a mouse this time. 220720
...
raze the loping gait of a satin moth. 220721
...
tender_square the shattered shell of a green water pistol, bleeding out ammo. 220722
...
raze the wind making an aimless kite out of an empty trash bag. 220723
...
e_o_i If bike paths count...

New lines were painted in the middle of the path recently. In many of them, a trail of extra paint tapered off on their east-facing side, making them look like

a) tops of condoms (rounded but with a spike in the middle)

b) sharpened pencils (one example is impressively triangular)

c) spires of Ottoman-style palaces (rounded and with longer spikes, sometimes with multiple bulges)

d) sci-fi laser guns (like the above, but thinner) 		220723
...
raze two red tim hortons takeout containers.

and i sang inside my head:

"sittin' here at the hortons
so you know this is important
if not here, then where?
if not now, then when?
when a feather's an immovable force?
when the stampede's an obstacle course?
when ancient train
has hit ol' transient horse?
when we're a vancouver divorce?" 		220724
...
raze a woman with an unfilled grey heart tattooed on her upper back, sitting on a square of pavement, knees pressed against her chest, bike turned sideways in front of her. 220725
...
tender_square a dishwasher out of job and kicked to the curb. 220725
...
tender_square a baby blue pacifier tethered to the end of a suspender leash, the salvia that once slathered it catching dirt. 220726
...
raze a decollated lollipop, its neck swaddled with thick blue thread. 220727
...
e_o_i If the bike path counts again, a rabbit. Usually they're on the grass. Maybe someone had dropped crumbs of something that tickled this one's taste buds.

Also...wooo, it's the ghost of myself a few days ago, frustrated that I tried so hard to describe something and couldn't get the wording right. "Spike" at the end of a condom indeed. It's not a pickelhaube. But then I tried to find a word for a rounded spike and all my brain gave me was "you know, like that bloppy blippy thing." 		220727
...
tender_square a wooden tee peg masquerading as framing nail. 220728
...
raze a frayed kleenex tissue worn down into angel wings. 220729
...
tender_square a bicycle with training wheels decked out in a superhero's arachnid symbol. 220729
...
tender_square a junior bottle of jim beam. 220730
...
raze a retired hairbrush, with every bristle still intact. 220731
...
raze a gold foil sticker, its round body made blinding by the sun. 220801
...
tender_square a chubby plastic unicorn with a purple pompadour. 220801
...
tender_square cheesy goldfish being nibbled apart by a frenzy of ants. 220802
...
raze a massive grey moth stealing shadows beneath a park bench to stay cool. 220803
...
tender_square a beer can mangled by the destructive jaws of a power mower. 220804
...
tender_square a torn green rind of a trident pack that previously contained watermelon gum. 220805
...
raze an earplug devoid of any visible cerumen, leaving me to wonder what kind of life it led before it was deemed unnecessary. 220806
...
raze a segment of broken branch waiting to snap an unsuspecting ankle. 220807
...
tender_square the crushed dust and broken bits of chalk pigment in purple, blue, and green. 220807
...
raze a grinning golden retriever. 220808
...
tender_square bunnies. bunnies everywhere. 220808
...
raze the withered dreams of sun-scorched maple seeds. 220809
...
raze a man and his son on bicycles, their smiles electric and too sweet to miss. 220811
...
raze newsom, running toward me with a half-eaten almond in her mouth. 220812
...
tender_square a woman admonishing her leashless dogs to behave better. 220812
...
raze a packet of hot sauce no longer capable of living up to its name. 220813
...
raze wordworms. 220814
...
kerry a man in an oxycontin t-shirt trying to light a cigarette 220814
...
tender_square a purple plastic drink cup named “surge.” 220815
...
raze a cartwheeling orange leaf that fell at my feet. 220816
...
tender_square a quenched bottle of gatorade. 220817
...
tender_square an empty water bottle corkscrewed by nervous hands. 220818
...
raze a pink plastic spoon (this one with its head intact). 220819
...
tender_square a wisp of crinkled foil packaging named "breeze." 220819
...
raze a glue stick with a glasgow smile. 220820
...
tender_square a vacuum cleaner with a hose wrapped in tin foil. 220820
...
tender_square spit that looked like a set of fangs. 220821
...
raze a pop tab without a can to call home. 220823
...
raze a stick tali would have been proud to claim as her own. 220824
...
tender_square a crescent of paper plate mirroring the sliver of moon in morning visibility. 220824
...
raze a torn strip of velcro. the amputated tail of a small inorganic animal. 220825
...
raze another stranded scrunchy. 220826
...
raze a redheaded bobby pin. 220827
...
tender_square a butler garter snake i nearly stepped on. 220827
...
tender_square a strawman jesus tied to a twig crucifix and wrapped to an oak tree, like some blair witch-level shit in the middle of the forest. (you bet your ass i noped the fuck out of there.) 220828
...
raze a family of flies dining on a dune of vomitus. 220829
...
raze a pulverized poppy. 220830
...
tender_square a thick spool of sheer grey ribbon coming undone. 220830
...
raze the pick guard that fell from an unstrung guitar made of bark. 220831
...
raze an artist's face-down business card. 220901
...
tender_square three crows dining on the entrails of a lesser bird. 220901
...
raze the delicate green offspring of oak trees. 220902
...
tender_square the hardiness of african daisies in an array of hues. 220902
...
tender_square a set of middle-aged triplets: women of the same build and pace, jogging with long hair tied back, their ponytails swinging under neon ballcaps; their bright tanks and shorts burning my eyes the way their too-bright voices burned my ears at 7 am . (they were friends, presumably, but they looked like carbon copies of one another.) 220903
...
raze a brown leaf sleeping in the center of a purple scrunchy. 220904
...
raze two uneaten soft candies. green and red. 220905
...
tender_square a yellow pez wrapper. 220905
...
raze a number of anonymous snack packs, gutted and left to fend for themselves. 220906
...
raze a spent box of allen's apple juice. 220907
...
tender_square an empty box of kirkland butter. 220908
...
raze the viscera of a half-eaten watermelon. 220908
...
tender_square another snake slithering by. 220908
...
raze a water bottle my eyes mistook for a statuette. 220909
...
raze a dehydrated red and white squirt gun. 220910
...
raze another tiny yellow flag. 220911
...
raze a tiny yellow flag. 220911
...
tender_square candy wrappers galore. 220911
...
raze a receipt with its contents faded beyond recognition. 220912
...
raze the peeling skin of a black ballpoint pen. 220913
...
tender_square sequins of sprinkled glass. 220913
...
raze the same kind of tiny resealable plastic bag a gram of cocaine used to come in. 220914
...
raze a red grape with a split lip. 220915
...
tender_square a tangerine-tagged division sign. 220915
...
raze a torn piece of glossy paper that once held a product produced by disney. 220916
...
tender_square a burst of purple in the underbrush; the hyacinth hair of a bratz doll as she sat with straightened back against a fallen branch. 220916
...
raze scattered excrement. 220917
...
tender_square a black phone cord coil turned stretched hair elastic. 220917
...
raze a battered brown paper bag. 220918
...
tender_square two men handlining the detroit river without a bite. 220918
...
raze a sky-blue ring of rubber. 220920
...
kerry a pinkish-purple splat of something of semi-liquid semi-solid. i decide someone dropped their smoothie. 220920
...
tender_square geese turds. 220920
...
raze a crippled crown cork. 220921
...
tender_square a wad of news. 220922
...
raze an unopened package of ritz bits sandwiches. 220923
...
tender_square bits of broken glass in the valley of a curved track. 220923
...
raze a woman balancing a pumpkin on her right shoulder. 220924
...
tender_square a canister of cannabis. 220924
...
raze a chalk drawing, blurred by rain into a logo for a product that doesn't exist. 220925
...
tender_square a satellite dish. 220925
...
raze a rusted paperclip. 220926
...
tender_square a working man in a neon vest spray-painting for sewer lines. 220926
...
raze a paper towel damp with something pink, fractured by footsteps. 220927
...
raze people walking their phones with canine third wheels. 220928
...
tender_square a man scattering leaves with a tube of artificial wind. 220928
...
raze throngs of people walking their phones while their confused and neglected dogs tagged along. 220929
...
raze that same paper towel from a few days ago, now hardened to resemble the ruptured remains of an obsolete plaster cast. 220930
...
tender_square a stranded pencil robbed of its eraser. 220930
...
raze a bent blue ink cartridge without a pen to give it purpose. 221001
...
tender_square a soft-haired toddler with a hurried gait. 221001
...
raze someone else's mess. 221002
...
tender_square one cyclist overtaking another. 221002
...
raze half a sesame seed bun, left_behind for the insects to investigate. 221003
...
kerry a pair of shiny black shoes, empty and waiting for feet. 221003
...
raze a partially-eaten pine cone. 221004
...
raze the sloughed-off skin of a peanut past its prime. 221005
...
raze a bleeding brown leaf. 221006
...
tender_square the silhouette of a rapid rabbit pausing after it escaped ruby’s cornering. 221007
...
tender_square two deranged-looking clowns in lawn chairs watching a rotisserie of human ribs roast over a fake fire. 221008
...
raze two furry friends who followed me out of the park and didn't want to leave my side. 221009
...
raze a smiling woman swaddled in purple sweats. 221010
...
raze pink and red leaves with their arms open wide. 221011
...
tender_square a man with come-at-me-bro arms held open and frozen, confronting air. 221011
...
raze a silent cicada tempting fate. 221013
...
raze a blue and black triple-A battery. 221014
...
tender_square a man in gold nikes hoisting a plastic folding table onto his shoulder. 221014
...
raze a crushed can of ginger ale. 221015
...
tender_square a paint tray with a puddle of beige slowly crusting over. 221015
...
raze the ankles of a statue made of solid shit, broken beyond recognition. 221017
...
tender_square a loose screw. a stretched-out hair scrunchie. 221018
...
tender_square a pliable pylon. 221019
...
tender_square a rubber tarantula hanging off a limb outside of randall lab, saying hi to unexpecting passerby. 221020
...
raze discarded literature encouraging sober driving. 221021
...
tender_square two giant turds burlesquing as the butts of cigars. 221021
...
tender_square a brown greyhound squatting sheepishly, unloading a massive shit. 221022
...
tender_square a bat’s following flutter as i walked home at dusk. 221023
...
raze a bent metal frame divorced from the sign it held the day before. 221025
...
tender_square wrappers and leaves pairing off to waltz in wind. 221025
...
raze a jilted blue inkjet pen with a full cartridge of unspent pigment. 221028
...
tender_square curious students looking for free food. 221028
...
raze a dead starling. 221029
...
raze a broken blue highlighter. 221030
...
tender_square an old, stumbling man who reeked of weed, giving the finger to two skeletons seated politely in patio chairs. he yelled “fuck you” to both sets of bones in an attempt to ward off death. 221030
...
past a flamingo and a dinosaur in a suit embracing and saying "i love you!" 221031
...
raze two dispirited balloons. one purple. one blue. 221101
...
raze a faceless timepiece. 221102
...
tender_square a spin scooter blocking pedestrians. 221102
...
raze a crushed carton of smarties. 221103
...
tender_square the tip of a mermaid's iridescent tail. 221104
...
raze a shattered wine glass. 221105
...
tender_square a lineup of grey early risers outside of most precious blood. 221105
...
raze a pink mitten missing its partner. 221106
...
tender_square a frazzled woman muttering to herself at sunrise. two men smoking cigarettes in the embrace of a building's alcove. 221106
...
raze a carpet of leaves. 221107
...
tender_square the former wrappings of a kit-kat bar. 221107
...
e_o_i This afternoon, I was waiting for the bus in the wind, and a roundish yellow leaf blew by, turning near-perfect cartwheels as it went. 221107
...
past on a stretch i walk almost everyday for the last two years, names drawn into the sidewalk when it was poured: "vivian" "isaac" 221108
...
tender_square a disaffected man with a large placard calling out the mayor. 221108
...
raze a melange of wood chips. 221109
...
tender_square a milk crate of food refuse. 221109
...
raze a red ink cartridge, again without a pen to call home. 221110
...
tender_square a drunk man pissing in the bushes. 221110
...
tender_square bill, yanking millie's leash and yelling at her aggressively to "get over here." 221111
...
raze fragments of cracked asphalt impersonating stones. 221111
...
raze a spent plastic drinking straw's unattended coffin. 221112
...
raze flakes of snow too stubborn to melt. 221113
...
tender_square a figure in an open doorway twirling a plastic bag into a wind sock. 221114
...
kerry an open pizza box with a whole untouched mushroom pizza inside. 221115
...
raze torn tissue paper bent by the elements into a dirty, distressed avian creature. 221117
...
raze a man too busy texting to control his two hyperactive dogs. 221118
...
raze a squirrel with a mouthful of leaves, gathering supplies to fortify their home. 221119
...
tender_square tiny tumbleweeds. 221119
...
tender_square an undulatory draft of snow. 221120
...
tender_square a well-trod lunar landscape. 221121
...
raze a remembrance_day poppy in repose. 221122
...
past giant election signs: one from a successful provincial candidate, the other from a defeated municipal candidate. 221123
...
raze a repudiated keychain, the gold of its untouched body glittering between the skinny arms of an air-sealed plastic bag. 221124
...
raze a deformed beer bottle cap. 221125
...
tender_square a black hair elastic stretched beyond its usefulness. 221126
...
raze a torn welch's fruit snacks package, the first letter of its name long gone. 221127
...
tender_square a broken blue security ring removed from the neck of a plastic bottle. 221128
...
tender_square a single spherical turd. 221129
...
raze a despondent black sweat sock. 221130
...
tender_square a stone-faced teenage boy on a bicycle, downtempo rap blaring from an invisible capsule shielded in his backpack. 221201
...
raze patches saying hello. 221202
...
raze a red bic disposable just like the first lighter i owned. 221203
...
tender_square an empty, clear plastic container that once held the emerald leaves of something living. 221203
...
raze an acorn that attached itself to a curved twig, creating an improvised hammer too frail to cause anyone harm. 221204
...
raze a few filthy receipts. 221205
...
tender_square gooey fast food wrappers. 221206
...
raze an unused usb cable. 221207
...
raze saliva, frothy and flecked with uneaten chocolate. 221208
...
raze a perfect triangle of white cheese. 221209
...
tender_square an inexplicable trail of blue rubber bands that spanned for numerous blocks. 221209
...
tender_square the pages of a road atlas scattered in all directions. 221210
...
past a monk, in robes wearing a rosary with thick beads and a large cross (likely catholic, but orthodox wouldn't be unheard of), shivering in the cold due to his lack of winter gear. 221213
...
tender_square teenage stragglers with domino pizza boxes heading back to hermann high. 221214
...
tender_square broken breeze containers shattered into shards. 221215
...
raze an ailing leopard print scrunchie. 221216
...
raze a cloth mask making out with an indifferent pine cone. 221217
...
raze the ruptured remains of some rudimentary engine. 221218
...
past an empty tallboy of blue. 221218
...
raze segments of snow like torn sheets of unlined paper. 221219
...
past wood chips from an enthusiastic woodpecker. 221219
...
tender_square the residue of snow shaved from pavement. 221226
...
raze the smooth belly of a maple_leaf kissed by ice crystals. 221227
...
raze frozen feces. 221228
...
tender_square a man walking what appeared to be a dirty mop, but in actuality was a shaggy-haired black puli. 221228
...
tender_square a pair of broken pink wheels and matching basket from a disassembled kid's baby buggy. 221229
...
raze puddles of piss with legs. 221230
...
past teenagers eating ice cream cones in the cold rain. 221231
...
tender_square eight bags of wet dog shit modeled in green, black and clear plastic. 230104
...
raze two teenage girls, each carrying a single unused crutch. 230105
...
raze lil' bit grabbing a walnut piece from the top of my shoe. 230106
...
tender_square a picture of a smiling minnie and mickey mid-dance, their lower halves torn and missing. 230106
...
tender_square a bald, pot-bellied man wearing a pristine tuxedo jacked paired with black jeans eviscerated at the knees and terminator shades, smoking a cigarette between his thumb and index finger. 230107
...
raze a woman walking a good fifty feet away from her dog, who wouldn't come when she called her. 230108
...
tender_square a huge buck in the distance. 230108
...
tender_square a whole lotta parents walking their children back to school. 230109
...
tender_square an intact golf tee and the shattered dimples of a yellow ball. 230111
...
raze a maple_leaf with varicose veins. 230112
...
raze a crushed candy cane. 230113
...
tender_square what appeared to be a snaking trail of brown blood up a slight hill. 230116
...
raze the fractured wrist of a fir tree. 230117
...
tender_square an unsecured bicycle resting against a park bench, the banana seat peppered in frost. the tableaux looked as though the owner had just dismounted briefly to take a walk through the open (empty) forest. 230117
...
raze a dozen or more discarded dog waste bags, all with the same words printed on the front: "poop happens." 230120
...
tender_square a series of shit splatters. 230121
...
raze two torn tendrils of tissue. 230123
...
raze the word "pup" inked in snow. 230126
...
tender_square a cluster of sparrows bathing in the icy remnants of melted snow. 230127
...
past a giant heap of snow left by the sidewalk plow when the driver encountered recycling bins and decided to back out of there instead of plowing through. 230127
...
tender_square a sopping heap of clothes on the corner of pilette and tecumseh, as though someone had just been evicted. 230129
...
raze more shit. 230201
...
tender_square what i thought were the ruffled feathers of a mangled owl but was actually the gnarled fir fingers of an evergreen branch. 230202
...
raze my own shoelaces coming untied. 230203
...
tender_square a decapitated yellow rose with tips fringed in red. 230207
...
raze a hollowed-out key fob. 230208
...
tender_square a piece of crust a crow wanted. 230208
...
raze the ragged corner of a mostly-eaten eggo waffle. 230209
...
raze a yawning orange peel. 230211
...
tender_square a lazy lei. 230214
...
raze a broken bough worn down by a woodpecker's snout. 230215
...
tender_square the mechanical innards of something flexible, like a pile of adult-sized k'nex spider legs. 230216
...
tender_square a shattered television littered beneath the word "free" spray painted in pink on grey brick. 230218
...
raze an abandoned lunch. 230219
...
tender_square a double-wide kitchen sink filled with soil and a neighbourhood of fairy homes. 230224
...
raze a psychedelic cigarette lighter. 230228
...
raze a green rubber snake small enough to sit in the center of my hand. 230302
...
tender_square the handle of a switchblade. two unattended alcoholic spritzers. 230303
...
raze detritus of a blizzard the city couldn't be bothered to attend to. 230304
...
raze a chipped tube of chapstick. 230305
...
raze the spent cartridge of a cheap plastic cap gun. 230309
...
raze more receipts rubbed raw by the elements. 230312
...
raze two puddles holding hands. 230314
...
raze a broken bicycle seat. 230316
...
tender_square a torn band of caution tape fluttering from the truck bed of a passing service vehicle. 230316
...
tender_square bubbly ridged pine cones like fallen miniature versions of chicago's marina towers. 230317
...
tender_square a lacy white brassiere with ample cups. 230320
...
raze a homeless man singing along to whatever music was playing in his earbuds, his voice off-key but beautifully unashamed of itself. 230324
...
tender_square the bones of my old windows. 230324
...
tender_square a crushed vanilla snack pack pudding with more to give. 230324
...
raze the broken nose of a glass bottle. 230330
...
tender_square a lively tour group walking on campus. 230331
...
raze hypothermic pine needles. 230401
...
tender_square a tangerine sticker with the low, low price of $4.99. 230404
...
raze the purple petals of a flower i couldn't name. 230405
...
raze a felt letter board's mislaid white f. 230407
...
raze a solar energy equipment provider's business card. 230411
...
raze a teenager sitting on a skateboard. 230412
...
tender_square yellow petals of post-it notes scattered between dandelions pushing up. 230415
...
raze a broken black plastic wheel, with the tiny vehicle it once supported left a mystery. 230416
...
tender_square a panic-bound doe leaping toward a retention pond. 230416
...
raze a hollow plastic tube that once held something sweet. 230420
...
tender_square a grey pitoxer in a colourful striped rain poncho, with a foam donut worn around its neck. 230421
...
raze a pulverized box of banana drink. 230422
...
raze a damp grocery bill that came out to $42.35. 230423
...
raze ants slipping between the cracks. 230430
...
tender_square a vial of vape juice. 230504
...
raze an empty ziploc bag with something illegible scrawled on the label. 230504
...
raze a decapitated dandelion. 230505
...
tender_square soggy sticks of chalk brittle to the touch. i picked one up and wrote "smile" in pale pigment on the asphalt. 230506
...
raze a bandage stripped of its adhesive properties. 230509
...
raze an unwanted orange. 230510
...
tender_square a short length of frayed rope. 230510
...
e_o_i Two songbirds fighting, beaks locked - then they separated, still darting at each other. I don't know if it was over a piece of food or what. 230511
...
raze the pink pads of a flower's feet. 230512
...
raze a cluster of smarmy, soulless, two-faced tweed-clad con artists making an event of their own existence. 230513
...
tender_square a man with an amp playing an accordion outside of plum market while a woman held a sign begging for money beside him for her kids on mother's day. 230515
...
past a crow eating a fish. 230516
...
raze two maple seeds asleep in each other's arms. 230520
...
past an elderly man in a suit with a propane tank in one hand and a blow torch in the other immolating weeds growing in the cracked pavement. 230525
...
raze written in two different shades of sidewalk chalk:

"monique ♡'s andre" 		230526
...
raze a bearded man carrying a cat on his shoulder. 230528
...
tender_square two white earbuds, their cords divorced from one another by the bus stop. 230529
...
tender_square a rancid red toothbrush with bent bristles. 230601
...
tender_square two little girls in matching t-shirts along with their mama walking to school. the shirts said "#fierce" and showed the head of a cartoon tiger. 230602
...
raze an insert advertising a risk-free subscription to national_geographic for kids. 230603
...
raze a thick threaded screw. 230606
...
raze an oatmeal cookie that crumbled into a very unimpressed-looking face. 230607
...
tender_square tinfoil stretched and crumpled into a silver-costumed dancer in pirouette. 230608
...
raze a million winged seeds. 230609
...
raze no less than fifty people with their faces fixed to their phones, heedless of the world around them. 230610
...
raze fast_food napkins i mistook for unwanted love letters. 230611
...
raze a smooth stone painted purple, with a question scrawled across its forehead in silver ink:

"do you get boils?" 		230613
...
tender_square a woman in a red robe walking a dog on the west end.

a solider shaking the hand of a young man wanting to enlist. 		230614
...
raze an articulated green plastic egg filled with dried leaves and dirt. 230618
...
tender_square brown bags of trimmed leaves, listing. 230618
...
tender_square a thin black box with red block letters that yelled "i love you rose." 230619
...
raze a halved gummy worm. 230620
...
tender_square a once-sunbathing earthworm barbecued to a crisp. 230621
...
raze a june bug that didn't make it through the month it was named for. 230622
...
tender_square a bundle of chalked hearts in differing sizes and colours, faded but fine following a hard day's rain. 230623
...
raze a pair of purple gloves made of tissue paper. 230624
...
tender_square a shirtless middle-aged man with a huge multicolored tattoo that resembled a chest plate. 230624
...
raze white earbuds. 230625
...
tender_square a discarded pre-threaded flosser looking like the weakest harp ever to be played. 230627
...
tender_square two dog walkers swinging bags of shit. 230628
...
raze the broken bodies of uneaten potato chips. 230702
...
tender_square carved into concrete, a message saying "no more war." 230702
...
tender_square a poached cheetah-print hairband. 230703
...
tender_square a smoke detector dying with gasping beeps. 230704
...
raze a broken pair of white sunglasses. 230706
...
tender_square a disabled man in a wheelchair, entirely nude, with a big gulp cup parked in front of his penis. 230706
...
raze a little boy sitting in a puddle. 230708
...
tender_square a facecloth the shade of duck down. 230709
...
raze the crinkled brown paper that once held a reese's peanut butter cup. 230713
...
tender_square a stretched out hair elastic the shade of earthworm. 230713
...
raze a birthday party about to begin. 230714
...
tender_square the ripped red stirrup of a garbage bag. 230716
...
raze soiled paper towels someone used to wipe their dog's ass (or their own). 230719
...
raze a crushed bottle of cough syrup. 230727
...
raze an abandoned unicorn. 230728
...
tender_square a can of keith's jutting from the beach. 230729
...
tender_square a red cap like a top hat. 230731
...
raze the first caterpillar i've seen since i was a child. 230801
...
tender_square a warm bottle of piss. 230803
...
tender_square a steaming landmine a man pointed out so i could sidestep it. 230804
...
tender_square a leaning tower of milkweed not yet old enough to bloom. 230805
...
raze a man swinging his limp left limb behind his back at impossible angles. 230806
...
tender_square a big brown beetle i named bernie that i carried to the grass safely using a fallen branch. 230808
...
raze what i'd like to think was that same caterpillar again, a week later. 230809
...
tender_square a black lock of leather leash. 230810
...
raze a homeless man dancing and singing to music only he could hear. 230811
...
raze a man practicing his single-handed backhand with a purple umbrella. 230818
...
tender_square a dirtied grey tea towel. 230818
...
raze a green articulated straw. 230822
...
raze a pomeranian's peach-coloured fur, brushed off and abandoned to the elements. 230823
...
tender_square a toad. a hundred furry caterpillars frantic on their routes. a resting doe. 230827
...
raze a grey bandana decorated with dalmatians readying themselves to piss on nearby fire hydrants. 230829
...
raze two dogs trying to tear each other apart while their owners watched and laughed. 230830
...
raze a girl trying not to fall while walking on rollerblades. 230831
...
tender_square an impatient man chastising his dog for being lazy. 230831
...
tender_square a jittery man with a tattooed face mugging at tecumseh road passerby from the seat of his mini rocker bike. 230901
...
raze a rubber wrench. 230902
...
raze the chalk outline of a body with arms outstretched. 230903
...
raze a random shoe. 230904
...
raze two dead cicadas. 230906
...
tender_square an abandoned grocery cart with four baby clementines sitting on the child seat flap. 230906
...
raze clumps of wet grass. 230907
...
raze a woman carrying three bottles of shampoo under her arm. 230909
...
raze a boy trying to straddle a toy car he'd outgrown. 230910
...
tender_square the outline of a spray-painted purple penis. 230914
...
raze a wad of puked-up wonder bread. 230915
...
raze a thinned-out hand towel. 230918
...
past a queen size mattress. 230920
...
raze a smiling blind woman letting her mobility cane light the way. 230921
...
raze a torn tim hortons gift card. 230922
...
tender_square a package of lunch meat.

a pamphlet with the question "how will i know if i'll go to heaven?" 		230923
...
raze a fragment of aluminum foil. 230924
...
raze a child old enough to walk upright choosing to crawl instead. 230927
...
tender_square three tumbleweeding blue balloons. 230928
...
raze a sweaty can of michelob ultra. 230929
...
raze fifteen chestnuts. 230930
...
raze a ninja and a princess. 231001
...
raze a demoralized rubber_band curled into a flawless figure eight. 231011
...
raze a single slice of cucumber in an open air-sealed bag. 231018
...
raze a styrofoam stick that looked like a toy cigarette. 231019
...
raze an empty pack of teeth-whitening gum. 231027
...
raze nature's soul confetti. 231029
...
raze a nearly full bottle of apple juice. 231103
...
raze a black hand towel. 231104
...
raze two landlocked cans of laker ice. 231112
...
raze a bag that was once a refuge for other, smaller bags. 231116
...
raze a stick thick enough to be a human limb. 231117
...
raze a man jogging without a shirt on a day that put frost on the roof of every house in the city. 231118
...
raze a pimpled mini pumpkin. 231123
...
raze a brainless box of smarties. 231124
...
raze a coterie of cotton swabs. 231126
...
raze a cleaned-out carton of maple walnut ice cream. 231208
...
raze the silk shorn from an ear of corn. 231214
...
raze a bunch of garbage someone couldn't be bothered to throw away. 231215
...
raze a bottle of water flattened to the point that i thought it was some sort of empty wrapper or bag until i got a closer look. 231217
...
raze an amazon package emptied of its contents. 231220
...
raze used tissues i mistook for crumpled-up love letters. 231223
...
raze eight pine cones inundated with rainwater. 231228
...
raze a disposable white cigarette lighter. 240104
...
raze an unattended brown_dog. 240105
...
raze a crimson cloth glove without a hand to hold. 240106
...
raze the broken arms of rain-ravaged trees. 240110
...
raze an empty box of grape-flavoured cigars. 240112
...
kerry an empty box of magnum condoms 240112
...
raze a smiling woman with a rainbow hugging her head. 240118
...
raze a spent condom wrapper. the vintage: trojan naked. 240206
...
raze a tag i couldn't fully read. the only word i was able to make out was "gate". 240207
...
raze a shiny new red fire hydrant. 240208
...
raze a cast-off cabin air filter. 240209
...
raze a tenants comprehensive form. 240210
...
raze a pea green winter hat. 240211
...
raze a pink ribbon. 240213
...
raze love letters written in invisible_ink.

(or maybe just fast_food napkins.) 		240217
...
raze an exhausted can of red bull. 240225
...
raze a small ball the size of a robin's_egg, its body a blue and white swirl. 240228
...
raze the fallen hair of trees too tired to groom themselves. 240229
...
raze a transparent plastic fork. 240312
...
raze one teenager spanking another. 240313
...
raze a thc-infused vape pen. 240314
...
raze a hungover bottle of heineken. 240316
...
raze a man running while pushing a stroller, ignoring the child inside it. 240317
...
raze a corona cap without a king to crown. 240323
...
Soma a homeless man warming his hands over a fire set inside his tent. 240324
...
e_o_i Two rose-brown mourning_doves that flew off when I approached, one making a high tremulous noise that sounded more like crying then their usual call does. 240410
...
e_o_i edits *then = than, pah 240410
...
raze so many lost_wearables. 240427
...
raze a torn instruction manual. 240502
...
raze a black plastic coffee mug. 240504
...
raze an advertisement for an event at st. mary's market written in psychedelic swirls of sidewalk chalk. 240505
...
raze a sullen styrofoam container. 240506
...
raze a green plastic propeller. 240508
...
e_o_i Last evening - a puddle in the shape of a snow angel, as a streetlight gleam revealed. 240509
...
raze a rain-spattered photo shoot. 240511
...
raze a man speeding by on a segway, blasting "skinny love" by bon_iver. 240516
...
raze a worker ant dragging a dried-out worm to the grass. 240524
...
raze an abandoned container of bubble solution, with the wand just a few paces away. 240525
...
raze the empty barrel of a used tampon. 240528
...
raze a jelly belly keychain shaped like a very large jellybean. 240606
...
raze a snapped plastic headband. 240607
...
raze a broken green rubber_band repurposed as a miniature necktie. 240609
...
raze a woman with a large bird on her shoulder. 240611
...
raze a flawless football. 240616
...
raze a bulging bag of garbage. 240618
...
raze a man whose bright orange shoes matched his hat. 240628
...
raze a crushed can of hard seltzer. 240702
...
raze a cigarette that was one long finger of ash. 240705
...
raze a man in a wheelchair struggling to keep up with his dog. he looked exactly like mr. clean.

(i mean the dude. not the dog.) 		240709
...
raze a shirtless man with a serious tan carrying a cane he didn't appear to need. 240716
...
Soma a cardboard sign scrawled with large block letters that were almost tidy and denoted "SMALL BROWN DOG LOST HERE" before giving way to the scrawl of illegible sadness 240717
...
raze a little girl high-fiving her sister with one hand while pulling her in a wagon with the other. 240721
...
raze a pear-shaped puddle. 240723
...
raze a filthy white feather. 240726
...
raze a side_sleeping shopping cart. 240803
...
raze a mangled box of mango juice. french side up. 240804
...
raze a crumpled-up math assignment, with none of the blanks filled in. 240805
...
raze two depleted packs of rolling papers. 240817
...
raze five balled-up pieces of lined paper. nothing written on any of them. 240905
...
raze an earplug so dark with dirt it looked like a chocolate thimble. 240912
...
Soma a large green leaf piled with half-crushed berries of the non-edible variety in various shades of red and orange, along with a small circle of sticks with a flower at their center 240913
...
raze a feather that fell from a crow. 240914
...
raze an empty bottle of forty creek whisky. 240915
...
raze countless sheets of crumpled paper. 240920
...
raze bubbles bobbing in rain-fed puddles. 240924
...
e_o_i Two banana peels, different sidewalks, same day. It's like someone decided the neighbourhood was a Mario game that needed obstacles. 240925
...
raze a bottle cap belly-up on a bed of shredded wood. 240927
...
raze the wreckage of a crashed toy helicopter. 241021
...
e_o_i These words, indented: "$5000 + tax."

Was someone trying to sell a car? The square of sidewalk itself? Why inscribe the words into still-wet concrete?

I'd seen it earlier and forgotten about it. If you ever get a chance to walk down Coolbreeze Avenue between Belmont and Donegani (in Pointe Claire, Quebec, Canada) it may well still be there. 		241022
what's it to you?
who go 		blather
from