Somewhere Nice

He wanted a favor
And I said no
This potential friend
A soul in need
I wasn't going to die
By helping out
I had the power
To do something
His day worse
Mine better
And that's how it is

The parking lot is stained with fallen leaves
There's a parking block missing
And found next to its neighbor block
There's an old loading dock that can be seen from the road
That's still in use in the morning,
With a sign above pointing to the back, "additional parking"

Taking out the trash
And the recycling
Improves the health of my apartment
It takes a sigh of relief
When it's a quarter full, half full, or even three quarters full
It just sits there stinking and rotting
But when you're finally ready to take everything outside
The empty recycle bin
And clean trash bag
They smile 

Inside are the freshest fruits and veggies
Mean on display and cut to order
All the local, organic products you could want
Even a small sandwich shop that's usually glad to get you a specialty of theirs, or whatever you want
But it's really very small and quite pricey
I usually shop elsewhere

Losing
Is a part of life
It happens
Everything can become a game
With win or lose outcomes
This means that sometimes things aren't going to go our way
But we were there
We still matter
Our voice was heard and will continue to be heard
We aren't going to run away
But pridefully accept defeat
We'll try again next time when we're better and stronger
We won't forget what it means to compete
But we'll live right now, content
With everything we are and everything we've done
Proud to have a voice
Right now