Ordinary Misfortunes

The roof of a trailer scrapes the ceiling
of the underpass; the truck and its driver
are stuck. Soon, a traffic pileup on all lanes, 
everyone sweating in the noonday heat. 
In front of the drugstore, a girl miscalculates 
and tumbles from the lime colored scooter. 
After you see one mishap, it seems like there's 
nothing else you can see. But when did disaster 
ever take its leave of any of us? Fires burn 
for weeks on islands and in the far northern hills. 
The woman returns to the hospital, never now 
not short of breath. Trace the length of a scar
under your shirt: not even an inch. Other times,
it blooms like plants warring underwater.