Recycled glass

 

Walking down the street

Eyes focused on nothing

The radio telling me of a concert next Saturday

I can’t go, but I don’t like the band anyway

Someone’s coming

Walking past

And I focus on the sidewalk

Because the sun’s in my eyes

Making them water

How embarrassing

But then I notice

There’s glittering bits there

In the sidewalk

And I remember something

My sister told me years ago

About how they add glass

—Little bits of plastic too—

To concrete

Something about making it

Harder or lighter—something

But it’s pretty for recycled glass

For something sharp and jagged

Ground and pushed into the concrete

It sounds painful on anything else

And though it’s ground in

It’s also ground flat

Letting the sun reflect

And I wonder

How many people notice

As they crush out cigarettes,

Spit out gum,

Walk their dogs and not notice

As they do dog things on the curb

That they’re walking on recycled

Broken glass.