So many people live in my apartment building, plumbers stamp their phone numbers all down the hallway walls.

April 5th, 2011, 10am

So many people live in my apartment building, car companies pay for ad space in our elevator. So many people live in this apartment building, I seldom push the elevator button; someone’s always beat me to it.

So many people live here, hundreds of dusty bikes wreath the walls of the inner courtyard. So many people leave bikes, I’m sure some go lost, recede into the tangle of bars and gears. So many people pass through here, there’s a convenient store in the courtyard, and some days, a one-woman farmer’s market by entryway # 26.

My apartment building is home to so many people that when I patter down the 12th floor hallway towards the open foyer, and look over the ungreen courtyard at the people on the opposite side, they look about as tiny as people doing the wave across a baseball diamond. Those are my neighbors in China.


Chris and Caroline said thanks.

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Colleen Kinder

writer, traveler, teacher of travel writing, big fan of HI.

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