room filled with broken objects

a room filled
with broken objects in
a house
waiting to burn

is this what you dreamt of
as a child?

a man wearing
his funeral shoes and
an insincere smile

an empty bird cage

a sun without heat

any number of
meaningless objects that
add up to the same life
your mother lived and all the
baby does is cry

all the man does
is read the words of
dead south american poets
and pretend to
understand

and the difference betweencold and numb
is a subtle one when
everything you hold falls
through your fingers
to the floor

and the weight of the sky
is brutal
but necessary

you have
spent your life believing
this lie without
question

****

(old stuff from a journal that probably no longer exists)