Insta-gram #6: walk on by

Walking back from the market with a bag of vegetables, my mind lost.
A woman, dressed in a straw hat and blue sundress is walking toward me.
She is looking at me.
I ask myself if I recognize her. No, no I don't.
As she approaches she wears a wry smile.
We pass each other by. I feel her pause.
"Ma'am!" I hear from behind.
"Ma'am!" I realize she is calling me.
I turn.
She waves me closer.
Wearing the same smile, she whispers
"Your button is undone."

Insta-gram #5: hello, spring here

A young couple sitting on a stoop,
a small child in a stroller parked in front of them.

Music warbling from an iPhone.
Sipping a Labatt Blue tall boy.

A woman walks by eating apple slices from a plastic bag.
Followed by a hoodied stranger.

Cigarette dangling from his lips
and a ferret squirming in his grip.

Insta-gram #4: morning wake-up

Walked out of my apartment building into the Arctic sunshine;

greeted by a waft of marijuana.

Someone is coping with this frigid morning.

A woman, alone, shouting, walks down the street.

She's talking on her cellphone.

Insta-gram #3: Philosopher's Walk

A bright, frigid Toronto morning. 

Blue sky

Passersby walking dogs,

enveloped in breathe clouds with every exhale.

The grass dusted with snow

a young man wheels his cello to rehearsal.

Walking. Walking.

The howling wind is banging on the rain spattered bedroom window.
The ghosts of yesterday, reaching out through the morning darkness.

Walking. Walking.

A woman in a bright green trench,
hot pink purse
slung across her body, walks by.

Unaware of the swirling leaves at her feet; tiny, rustling cats, scraping along the sidewalk, drawing figure eights around her ankles.

Walking. Walking.

West on Bloor St.
Wind pushing back, refusing passage.
Unravelling scarves.
Desperate wearers scrambling to grasp purple, pink, green streams flapping wildly up, back, twisting away from their necks.

Walking. Walking.

Insta-gram #2: a hot pink ...

underwear day.

On a rainy Hallowe'en morning.
I think I'll walk to Virginia next year.

Insta-gram #1: Thursday

The dog, prancing, proud of the fuzzy yellow tennis ball in its mouth.

The dog's walker with her candy-coloured bag of dog shit.

The homeless man in the bus shelter; folding his belongings.

The women's running group, walking briskly, Venti coffees held aloft.

Trophies for this morning's effort.

Thursday.