Works by Ben Balazs

It is often difficult to discern just how loud traffic is at night. Drivers zoom in their stratified lines, and pedestrians stomp their steel-toed boots from block to block. From afar it doesn't seem like anybody is looking at anything - as if they're all minding their own business. I know better. I know better then to believe they don't have eyes on the back of their heads, or under the soles of their feet, or over the lenses of their cameras. They are always watching, day in and day out, waiting to see whether I have met their visual quota for the month. It's not like I can escape those eyes either, as I sit like a mural under the sky, blocking the light of the stars from reaching the concrete that holds me. The city lights shine too bright, and the smog in the sky is barely enough to blanket my bare body from prying eyes below. I let them stare, but I curse every turning head. A whole city of people look up to me, look up to my nude figure in the hopes that it lo...

I could taste it. So sweet. So damn sweet. "Drink up! Don't you waste a drop!" I kept my head down as I gulped, forcing it to slosh past the roof of my throat. So sweet. Drool began to pool, but the drink never stopped, and the lights, they got brighter, and I wasn't sure what people were crying out to me. Their words drowned in it. "Drink up!" I kept going, unable to breathe, but it didn't matter. It was so sweet. Sweet like ice cream, cake, and chocolate crushed together and blended with a candied apple. It burned, but I could not stop. The people disappeared, the walls were melting, and the music was looping, looping, looping. "Drink up! Don't you waste a drop!" I drank, and I drank, and drank. For a moment, my eyes wide, I choked on it all, and the music stopped, and the yelling came back. So loud! "Make it stop," I begged. And back I went, head bent forward. "Drink up! Don't you waste a drop! Not...

Every week felt the same. The table would be set. The candles would be lit. A few prayers would be uttered, and then we would eat our fill. It was just your run-of-the-mill human social complex, but when I think of the word complex, I expect something a little more... sophisticated. “Oh, this election is great,” someone at the table remarked, “It’s gotta be the best one yet!” “Yeah but it’s not supposed to be television,” someone else interjected between mouthfuls, “‘cause the one in charge is gonna take care of us for 4 fuckin’ years.” A brief quiet ensued, only periodically interrupted by the clashing of silverware. “Well I’m sure it won’t make much of a difference,” the head of the table muttered, “We’re still here. There’s still work to do. Doesn’t matter if this country’s run by a squirrel. Bills need to be paid…” His voice trailed off into his food. That was an interesting thought. Did it really matter? The president is just a fancy title afforded to a pret...

I would sum it up best, If by some unrest, I declare upon the soul whose door, Would wash its brazen key ashore, That it was meant to be lost at sea. I would often confess, But with the faintest of jests, Toward a sullen man so bare, Whose skin by fear shone fair, That it was simply not meant to be. And his tears would float adrift, Upon the waves, quite often swift, To flee from mind of fool afoot, In sand that sunk what faith he put, Toward eager life of wealth and glee. So be it God, so come what may, Of anchors hung from necks aflayed, So shall I drown into the deep, Of sweet and dark and silent sleep, At last the sea has come for me.

Today was the first day that I chose to sit in the shade. I'd gotten so used to having the sun on me that the darker side of things felt eerily cold. Though it was far from winter, I felt deeply shaken and unsettled, uprooted from comfort. The pillars around me provided stripes of cover much like trees in a forest. Above me was a canopy that these pillars held up, and tiny beams of sunlight peaked through to reach me. I chose to be patient today. I chose not to rush from building to building, from class to class, from failure to success, from expense to investment. I decided to take a moment and breathe - survey my surroundings. When I stopped and looked, under the wings of a shadowy sanctuary, I noticed the hundreds of people who bolted from Point-A to Point-C. I could hear the marching of their shoes, heels, slippers, and flats, all working in unison toward a cause unknown. I saw human beings swallowed up by piles of brick and concrete, only to later be regurgitated with newf...

The weather was as fine as fine got, peering out from under its covers and baring its pearly white teeth. The city was abuzz once more, with passerby of many kinds making their way to this store and that. I could hear the soft whirr of engines as they zipped from block to block, eager to reach their destinations in a punctual manner. Those cryophilic few who used to hang around these parts have since tapered off to colder places unknown, and have left piles of melting snow in their place. Every brutal December morning was worth sitting through to see a beautiful day like today. The very idea of thinking to peel off my layers brought a devious grin to my face, as if I'd be committing the crime of public indecency. What shame had I left? I let my cane cozy up against my thigh this time around, knowing full well that its metal case wasn't cold enough to make me uncomfortable. I unzipped my leather jacket and hung my arms over the spine of the bench beneath me. The air felt so fr...