Friday, July 14, 2006

Streetside smackdown

People look at you incredulous when you break into a fifteen yard sprint then revert back to walking pace. Stomp repeatedly on a discarded cigarette butt for more than a few seconds and the police stop you for aggressive behaviour. You're acting out of kilter with the en-masse. You overstepped the boundaries of accepted social norms. You leapt over the barbwire fence of society-imposed self-restraint. A shell-suit woman stares down at your action, eyes like fists, pummelling a bad psychology. "Be normal. This is what your super-ego is telling you." It's a strangling truth and you need air. You make a run for the nearest open space but before you can get there a flock of seagulls teem down on it and snap at your heels, shit everywhere. Nobody wants you happy. Not even the birds.