Down the corridor buoyant giggles and chirps of

weekend minded ephemerals, sun-dappled ameliorations bubble up

though beyond a junction

overheard voices, terse and targeted

quickly cut through, give pause

heavy tones with sharp punctuation

self congratulatory pursual of an unnamed victim

the volume rising as my feet slow, unsteady

until quite quickly it drops to an icy whisper

“he just… he simply isn’t that smart.”