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robert-zanfadPoems
a new morning huddled over the small stove set on snow cold-numbed fingers fumbled with matches to light it coughs punched at a dust rag sky, the dull rasps embarrassed near neighbors might hear how the weak body heaves, wracks they'd smell kerosene on hands and clothes if they came too close the bent over figure counts ashes afloat, relics of fresh disasters wrought high, loosing tally at one in hope it was the last; restarts the reckoning - it might be a tempest this time fire fed by collections of poems, old histories of things with no purpose, expired quickly in overnight darkness cold, gray their corpses still lay beyond brushed bricks of the hearth even a grocery list, its page neatly erased under flakes, chases after vapors escaped an empty fuel can, hunger replaced by craving to be warm again inside, behind the door they bow heads and say grace at the table praying over slices of light from a window intoning with cotton puff voices still God gives tomorrow to continue the counting
0
Feb 16, 2012
Feb 16, 2012 at 10:22 AM UTC
Counting Ashes
a new morning huddled over the small stove set on snow cold-numbed fingers fumbled with matches to light it coughs punched at a dust rag sky, the dull rasps embarrassed near neighbors might hear how the weak body heaves, wracks they'd smell kerosene on hands and clothes if they came too close the bent over figure counts ashes afloat, relics of fresh disasters wrought high, loosing tally at one in hope it was the last; restarts the reckoning - it might be a tempest this time fire fed by collections of poems, old histories of things with no purpose, expired quickly in overnight darkness cold, gray their corpses still lay beyond brushed bricks of the hearth even a grocery list, its page neatly erased under flakes, chases after vapors escaped an empty fuel can, hunger replaced by craving to be warm again inside, behind the door they bow heads and say grace at the table praying over slices of light from a window intoning with cotton puff voices still God gives tomorrow to continue the counting
robert-zanfad
Written by
robert-zanfad
American
Feb 16, 2012
Feb 16, 2012 at 10:22 AM UTC
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