In a library, off Verdugo

it’s peaceful, and quiet

besides

the adolescent girls sitting cross-legged

making jokes, and

the occasional waft of homelessness—

clocking in their ten hour shift.

The internet is free, as are the restrooms

so it all makes its own sort of sense.

It’s 2022 and I’m just now reading

letters, from 1946—and on—where the world

described, is that of failed systems

injustice and its people, confused

and troubled and hungry, and mad.

It’s the kind of peace and quiet

that slowly breaks your spirit,

that slowly breaks your heart.

In a library, off Verdugo

is where I understand.