Hear Jim’s podcast at: https://youtu.be/4LmqQFsuPPk

or read his transcript below:

ONE LIFE ONE MOMENT IN EVERY VILLAGE, USA

 You can see him right there, next to the fast-food diner in the heart of downtown, in the center of this village.

You can see him if you pause to look.

Here’s what you can see should you take the time.

Slow down and peek right and left. Lower your windows so that you can both see and hear what is outside your vehicle.

You can see him if you dare—yes, dare—to drive slowly, just beyond your comfort zone.

Yes, there he is, right next to the eatery.

He’s lying there flat on his back on the sidewalk just inside an alcove of an old building next door, and he looks dead except for the fact that one arm is stuck straight up and a lighted cigarette is being held firmly within direct view of his upturned face.

He has his eyes closed and there’s a look of blissful satisfaction on his face since he’s just eaten some kind of generic food, judging from the wrappers lying there right next to him and the half-full paper coffee cup resting nearby.

He’s just had his meal in his own dining room of a city and is lying there on his own city-sized bed and his ceiling is as high as the sunny sky and his shade is provided at his leisure by a tall building that nobody can take away from him since he doesn’t own the building in the first place and the building isn’t going anywhere in the second place.

One good breakfast one good cuppajava one good cigarette and a nice hot village day at his disposal, and the next moment seems hours away.

And isn’t right this second just wonderful and aren’t all those ragtags passing by in their air conditioned conveyances just plain missing this split second that’s so important so precious so long

 © Jim Reed 2020 A.D.