Histograms
   
histograms show city mounted on a graph 
stormy grey clouds perched on skyscrapers
pillars of isolation stand at 90 degrees
friendless patios braving bipolar weather 
elevators pass through the curtained glass 
 
penthouses to down below are inmates
barely talking, not even to themselves
towering flat-chest avenues, yawning
at night, quadrilateral lights watch
looming shadows befriending ghosts    
 
brown bags binned; tv screened black
unpaid bills stacked; cell phones de-stressed
whacked bundles put to bed, logged off  
so schooled are dogs inside our bodies_
unleashed, they howl, run wild in dreams
 
filled with gravel and steel, in the bars
of connectivity is wired isolation, condos 
converted airtight vaults are not homes 
in hives piled one on another, bees 
never complain; they embrace hierarchies
 
on skewers of compliance, every day
pushed against the columns of linearity  
baby dolls, dandy boys, hooked on dating apps
uptown spas, diesel gyms, hop-daddy getaways
life stays vertical, lonely, unloved and sad

Dr. Rubeena Anjum is an educator and a psychologist. Now retired, she pursues her passion for reading and writing poetry. She is a member of the Dallas Poets Community and the Richardson Poets Group. Her recent work has appeared in The Ekphrastic Review, The Bosphorus Review of Books, Artistic Antidote UMN Clinical Affairs, and Corona Virus Anthology by Austin International Poetry Festival.

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