If the World Could Be Saved By Manners

Tried to squeeze past a man to get off the bus

But he just froze with a “Whoa, whoa, whoa.”

And schooled me for not saying “Excuse me.”

The magic words to make him move.

Stuttered out a stock apology

Then cursed him under my breath

As I stepped out onto the overtaxed sidewalk

Home to shivering vagrants and vacant hearts.

If the world could be saved by manners

It would have been saved a long time ago

In kindergarten classrooms and HR seminars

Where life and love are contained in mason jars.

Yet indifference rages on

With a post-yoga yawn

Because people insist “Excuse me.”

Excuses their lack of peripheral vision.