In due time they’ll have to come for me,
With blue gloves and a gurney.
They’ll have to take me away,
But they won’t shake their heads.
They’ll have to take me away,
But they won’t even announce ‘he’s dead’.
No, they’ll pick me up like rotten meat
Found in the grocery store.
Only because the neighbors complained too many times.
Even the maggots won’t feast on my flesh
Even the crows won’t dine on my eyes.
I’ll be a monument for all to see,
What a man couldn’t even amount to be, but no,
Such attention I don’t deserve.
The neighbors won’t speak of me when I’m gone,
They know that’s my heroin.
The neighbors they’ll ask,
‘Where is he?’ no, not me, the homeless man
Who proudly knows where he stands.
Perhaps I shall roll in bread crumbs
And stroll in the park to see if the pigeons will care for a snack?
No, they’re not hungry now, and they never will be.
The ants below will pass with their heads up higher than mine.
Even Auden’s unknown citizen
Had a marble monument erected by that state, but my state isn’t his.
Even God himself will forget about me.
He didn’t give me a heart that beats.
He gave me a filter system that forces blood into circulation.
He gave me a mind that’s run by a hamster on a wheel.
I wonder when he will stick his finger in the works
Like laundry ending its spin cycle.
I wonder when he will pinch the tube to stop the circulation, but no,
He will forget about me and I will be left alone in my cage.
The children will forget about me
And I’ll starve for food and die of thirst.
I’ll stay until mother comes
With yellow gloves to pick me up,
Followed by a cringe of the nose
And a sigh of relief as she drops me in the trash.
Author notes
A new favorite of mine
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 6 of 6
-
wow
-
-
wow?? hopefully its a good wow
-
-
This was really good. I liked how you compared the mind with a wheel, seemed metaphorical, like the way a person's mind can seem to go a mile a minute when lost in thought.
Keep up the good work.
Haley Mary
-
I often use repetition myself, at first was unsure of the same line used twice in the first stanza, but after re reading this aloud it does work. Did you mean mother's powered gloves or powdered gloves? The third stanza contradicts itself, at first the neighbours don't talk about him, then they do. The last stanza could stand alone. The entire write was captivating in a chilling way, you compounded the depths of degradation, despair and despondency well. I liked your metaphors. That this ended with even his own Mother dismissing him, unpitiyingly, as trash, hit like a hammer. You bought the baby home by asking, succintly, should society care about the homeless when their own flesh and blood feel as if they are above them. Especially liked the second and third line in the last stanza, for me they were demonstrative of the man trying to persuade himself he is an automaton, emotionless, empty, when he is not, rather his existence is.
-
Hampster? Guineapig? Labrat?
Has a strong flowing beat. Very readable. Cute.
Articulate and ironic image: "Perhaps I shall roll in bread crumbs/And stroll in the park to see if the pigeons will care for a snack?"
-
wow
a nice flow of words, Ina way it sounds sad and lonely to me. Pigeons will always care for a snack. Being in a cage and forgotten about that does sound very lonely. It was a pleasure to read.
Adding your comment:
1 - 6 of 6
