I Would Gladly Share My Crisps With You.

I try not to hate the school kids as I'm
Sitting on the bus
Hating the school kids.

Observe them! I remind myself
They're humanity in its truest form:
Unsocialised.
Everyone should be like that
I have said
When not sitting on the bus.

An old lady gets on
Smelling like bums and sherbert.
Bringing new meaning to the sherbert dab
She fizzes past
Fat and terrified
Of a new generation
That won't give up their seats.

I glare at a boy with curly hair
Sitting in the disabled spot
And he stares straight back,
Shows me a little smirk
That seems to say
Fuck off Grandma.

He brings a tut
To my still-young lips.

Trying not to hate the school kids
Old ladies
Or myself,
Wishing I could untut
My tut,
I'm thinking
If this is humanity
I'm disappointed.
It's not really what I've been looking for
After all.

But then you drop,
Ladybird
With a little tap
Like a message from the world
Saying: Don't worry,
I'm nice.
And I gasp
Ecstatic at your clever design.

Little red robot
Wings that fly.

I smile out the window
At people making connections
Sharing crisps, silently,
Like it's no big deal.
Forgetting shared silence
Is as close as we can get.

My little red friend
Walking along
I wonder if you're thinking
Or not
About small things
That remind you the world can be nice.
Sometimes.

I would gladly
Share my crisps with you.