River

When I walk past the freeway it smells like summer, like burning cotton candy. But as I walk underneath the freeway it starts to smell like syrup. The sidewalk is dirty. There is actual dirt and then there are all those small pieces of paper and candy wrappers. When I walk past the river I stop and look down. The water is green, not like neon, but not natural looking, it flows between two concrete walls. This is my river now. My rivers before had banks made of dirt with vegetation and wildlife. Some of the banks were rocky, jagged and unnavigatable. Now my river is green sludge floating between two slabs of concrete. I am scared of the other rivers now. I have been living with green sludge for too long.