Rat's Eyes

It's a lukewarm night, air like a stagnant haze settled over the night city. The skytrain above me shunts air and slides on oil-greased rails as I walk out of the lit terminal. It's a grim sight on this corner as the vagrants troll for loose change, flea bitten rags leaking rank unripeness and disgusting the Sean John sycophants, size XXL on a Youth Large torso, $5 aerosols combating the stench with engineered pheromones of perceived lust.

I see the world through
Rat's eyes
Burning
Rat's eyes
Sullen
Rat's eyes
Dirty
Rat's eyes

Two-slice-and-a-soda when my toonie loonie fistful tumble into the cash register, sweaty fist gripping the paycheque of a hobo, your rent money in a cardboard box. Grease pizza drips flavour like a faucet down my chin, stains the napkin impermeably; you imagine scrubbing at a paper napkin with your home cleaning product stain remover 2-in-1 action pack with soft scrub action (results may vary)

I wear rat's shoes
And my sneakered feet slap the ground in a steady rhythm
I pay rat's dues
The heat taxing my mind like a toll booth to keep walking
I make rat's moves
Slinking bent over in the shadows scratching at the scalp
I sing rat's blues
Singing out loud to ward off the urban bears I know are watching

I see the world through
Rat's eyes
Burning
Rat's eyes
Sullen
Rat's eyes
Dirty
Rat's eyes

Here's a bus stop devoid of people, pop cans piled on an overflowing wastebasket, bus transfers like discarded bills fluttering. The 99 rolls into existence announcing itself like an impatient hippo and leaving a suck of dead air in it's wake; one person to three seats and you move out of the personal space because I don't trust Mr. John Anderson. Massive polish brute squeezed into his tech job's uniform polo glares at me sullenly till his skinny flailing compatriot distracts him. Two native boys with crooked teeth and lanky limbs chat up a lonely curly haired brunette, receptive and willing. Badass boards the bus, dreadlocks a fly, tattoos ablaze, muscle walk like it's too hard to stroll with these pecs, ma'am

I want you to touch my filth
Bubblegum wrappers and the free daily litter the bus rear
I want you to feel my filth
The cloying sweat of everyone clings to your skin like an oily film
I want you to look into my eyes
A haunted look, gaunt, like I never sleep, a savage grin of malice
I want you to look through my eyes
And see what I see, see yourself, see your city

I see the world through
Rat's eyes
Burning
Rat's eyes
Sullen
Rat's eyes
Dirty
Rat's eyes