In the hard glint of afternoon sun,
you can't really think,
except to realize
you're not actually
very far away—you've never been
closer to home; and now,
when the intellect
is mercifully diminished
all your senses quickly sharpen—
and you can almost hear
the noiseless stealth
of shiny black ants
as they bustle back
and forth in the
sidewalk cracks—
and practically smell
the sweet breath of lazy
vines across all of the
brick walls all exhaling—and
for the first time in a while,
really see all these
sweet plucky children
come streaking
out the open
doors of squat shops
with pinstriped window awnings
and go
surging like a flood
through the streets
of this lakeside downtown
with meaningful streaks
of brown and pink and seashell
white on their cold cheeks
and remember
that there used to be so many
unique ways to get here,
because fudge,
after all, is not really
a candy—it's a process.