50 Floors Up
by Odin Roark

Window washers hold firm
As screeching scaffold
Belays their destination stop
Floor 50

Bearing winds and exposure
Akin to alpine climbing
They perform routines
Absorbing reflections unique

Below them
Weather
Skyscraper rooftops
Anthill humanity
Above them
More everyday reliance
Another floor
Another paycheck

New Yorkers find momentary wonder
As they plant their walking habits
Firmly to the pavement
Looking up occasionally
Year after year
Floor after floor
Only imagining the thinking
Suspended hundreds of feet above

As the harnessed professionals
Wash away grime’s history
Behind tinted glass
Worker bees move through
Career-combs of service
Whirling digital futures
Computerized existence
Fashion clad
Policy enslaved
Ambition trapped
Yet to fully understand
Freedom is what power
Wishes to allow

Occasionally…

A see-through window
Reveals these anonymous identities
Bent over dreamers calculating their security
Desk after desk
Monitor after monitor
Entry after entry

Lunchtime beckons
As Paulo and Sam’s altitude appetites
Take brief respite from cleaning chores
Relax in their safety gear
Unwrap their bologna sandwiches
And gaze at the clouds
They smile
They laugh
They nod
“Good, eh”
“Yeah, good.”