Chocolate Milkshake - Sept. 29, 2024

what I come upon are ants

bumping into each other

around the edge of a brown lake

on a crazed sugar high

I imagine an afternoon’s reward

became a fumbled treat  the spilled

dream sank a stomach  curses cut

the air as it spread over the sidewalk

and a boy spotted in the distance

head down in a slow shuffle

tens pounds of school

bending his back

definitely

not wanting to be asked

what’s wrong?