The People
by Alex Araiza
For a moment there
everyone slowed
their mouths hanging open
for air
for sound
for mimicry
that sounded like opinion
or choice.
They blinked
and slept
and ran
to walk.
Smiled bearing their teeth.
Laughing to howl.
They were a crack in stone
and time, the moving water.
Life, they thought hesitantly,
life.
