because i can sit on my front steps and no one - not a soul - is passing on the sidewalk or in the street.

because all the raindrops on all the windshields and the pink in the sky from the city lights must be there with my permission because there's simply no one else to have allowed them to be there.

because the idiot drag racing himself towards home in a little pickup wasn't real and i know this because he was simply too absurd and incongruous.

because i hear my own soundtrack in my ears and not another sound.

because i can think of no reason why i couldn't simply walk into the house across the street or the car across the street or the convenience store down the block or the mall half a mile away.

because it's rained and it's sunday night and the world is clean and at peace.

because i can sit in my room with the window open wearing a slip and stockings and be persuasive to no one, and that's freeing. and good for reminding one that one's place in the world is small and insignificant.

because my car doesn't work but i don't care because there's no place open for me to drive it to.

because no one else has presented themselves to claim it.