Where The Sidewalk Doesn't End

by Matt Rhodes on Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 9:16pm

Take a walk and look at how scarred the sidewalk is. Whether it's gum stains or blood stains, puke puddles or mud puddles, the urban environment is a textured old skin.

The old patch of concrete outside my door has a history of abuse. Where did this crack begin? Who poured the mortar and who passed out on it last night?

The false permanence of the sidewalk is marked by the only constant that it tries so hard to erase: Nature. Signs of Her are everywhere and she often pokes through in odd places.

The pathways created by humans are linear and worn. What more can we say of the modern infrastructure? Humans have become their sidewalks and alleyways; their worn-out buildings and leaking pipes...

In certain areas, a block of the sidewalk is repaved, but soon it blends in with the surrounding pavement. People live their lives with others or alone...all in a certain fashion, pattern or style, creating a ruckus around them-then they change, and eventually it all blends into the obscurity of/as humanity's mortar.

The sidewalk is often a place of loiter, conversation and intercourse. The sidewalk is filthy place. It is a place transition...

This path of concrete is also a place of delivery, where people arrive or depart from destinations, say hello or say goodbye. It is were some people sleep and wake-up in the morning. Most importantly, it is the place where all things intersect and points of human interaction converge.

Our lives are a host full of coul-de-sacs, bridges and tunnels, intersections and highways. Humans are transient...our lives come to an end someday, but these are things that appear as we get older and we see that the sidewalk doesn't end...