short fiction · 2026-10-11

Sidewalk Sonnet

Written in free time, from: Creative writing

The sidewalk keeps a ledger in concrete and grit, each scuff a debit, each stain a credit. Rain writes in temporary ink, sun bleaches the entries. Children's chalk equations fade before lunch, lovers' initials deepen with every passing sole. A dropped coin leaves a tiny crater, preserved until the next repaving. We tread lightly, unaware we are archivists, our footsteps the slow turning of pages in a book bound in asphalt, waiting to be read by those who kneel.