Ahead of me, a woman walks uphill.
She’s dressed for exercise, with phone to ear.
She angles leftward toward the street, until
she nears the curb, and then she turns to veer
to right and plodding on her way, proceeds
zigzagging up the street. I can’t decide –
is she distracted? processing some needs
to add more steps by walking side-to-side?

And next I watch a guy in my BART car
switch trains but only ride one station more.
The rails he left would take him just as far,
so why did he elect to transfer? Sure
I witnessed slightly strange, but no one harmed.
By chance-encountered strangers I’m disarmed.