Layers

The tar boils underneath the world, forgotten

walked onward with layers upon layers

between you there lies foot,

sock, shoe, pavement, asphalt, rock, dirt, magma,

the clerk at the counter with the smile we all love

just like the man on the t.v.

with the face we all know

famous, infamous faces

faulted, blanked minds

happy, brilliant white teeth

drunken, low gazes

passed without thought given

and the layers work themselves in again

layers of protections,

layers of lives,

layers of an onion

the youth find layers in life

is just living too much to ask?

Is the world not good enough for one sitting?

must we take it in breaks?

short calculated glances?

where we may look, like all others

slack jawed, those forbidden thighs

of the girl, yet not seen

until the lessons are learned

until the questions are asked,

or lack therof

until the paper is read,

until the wife is waiting

hands between legs braced

until the kids are born

until we are finally dead

finally gone

passed among

with a quick glance

from a few, far people

who are more few and far between

and the layers never stop