#lunchbox
Brown apple, bad smell
My long forgotten lunchbox
I was just a kid
It had dinosaurs on it
And a volcano – almost empty
Inside but so much going on
On the outside (it looked cool)
And I miss it
Even with this rot inside
Even the things I don’t know
Nor remember
For there’s a hole in the middle
I can’t see through.
- robert
May 2, 2018
May 2, 2018 at 6:03 AM UTC
I was in the kitchen.
cleaning plates,
washing bottles.
Three days
since my child went to school.
Her lunchbox
still unopened.
Still waiting.
When I opened it
the smell arrived first—
something old,
left behind.
Tiny worms
moving through crumbs
of unfinished food.
I watched them
and thought:
This is how it happens.
Quietly.
Between mornings.
I saw myself there—
inside the lunchbox,
kept,
forgotten,
still warm enough
for life to continue.
No one to clean me.
No one to notice
the slow turning.
It is time again
for her to go to school.
Another morning.
Another rush.
I wiped the box
with a rug.
Opened the tap.
Washed.
Poured the liquid
over what remained.
The smell stayed
on my hands.
Even after soap.
Even after water.
As if care
never really ends—
it only moves
from one container
to another.
As if
This is what I am becoming.
Jan 31
Jan 31, 2026 at 1:01 AM UTC