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Happens to the Best of Us
She did what she was supposed to do,
got good grades, a job right out of college,
married eventually and had two kids
and then, just as a dream deferred
is supposed to do, her inner life dried up
into a hard raisin, fell into a crack
on the sidewalk inaccessible even to a squirrel
and before the ants could get to it
was tarred over by a sidewalk crew
to keep the concrete blocks from breaking
any more than they had already
so no more pedestrians would fall
down, break a knee, and sue the city.