A different kind of life

by, Michelle
September 2, 2006

I look around myself
and feel my surroundings spin.
A woman is holding an infant grandchild
at the intersections open-air veggie stand.
The scooter fumes haze my vision
not to mention my lungs.
I look the other way.
A young man in a deep yogic backbend
using a stool as a prop
next to his father, a butcher
who is hacking up a pig.
I sit in awe as I wait for my green signal
to urge me further down the road.
Zoom...one...two..three scooters go flying by.
I feel the sticky air as it breezes by my bare arms.
It's cool and humid with no jacket
flying down the road on the ass end of a scooter.
Uuuughhh... another bump
almost reminds me of the roads at home when the winter breaks.
I'm waiting for summer to break.
My helmeted head bounces off the back of yours.
A red light - no worries, it's only for reference in this town.
A child is staring at us and poking his mothers thigh
wanting to make her look our way.
We're celebrities in this place,
not because of who we are
but because we don't fit the Taiwan mold.
It's a different kind of life.