Driving around, I will waste more time

I will slow down at the coffee shops

Watching the people in their caffeinated bubble

I will stop at 4 red lights before I finally meet a green

It turns the water droplets on my windshield

Rudolph red, and then

A hue of lemon-lime soda

I will contemplate getting my groceries

I can almost see the flickering fluorescent lights

I picture the aisles and plastic bags

Until it blurs by and I miss the exit

I circle to the town center and see

People with people

People walking to or from

People with dogs, children, takeout

As I turn my last corner

I think of the man without an umbrella

The little girl whose dad is holding an untelling paper bag

Driving around, I will waste more time

making up stories of the people I pass by

Avoiding the inevitable silence at my apartment

Avoiding the fact that I am just a blank page

Alone