helpless

I step onto the street
and I fall with the hesitance
of a scared cat
among screeching tires,
or a hidden sun
among dark clouds.
The pavement is wet and hard,
my body dragged
among flattened bodies of animals
in cake-dried blood;
dragged along the rain-washed,
sun-dried paths
reeking of sour smell,
as though rain itself is vinegar,
pouring down the scarred
flat surfaces
that lay suppine -
helpless.