Bits and Pieces

I look around me
And see her everywhere—
The toilet paper,
She would remind me
About the toilet paper,
"Make a list," she'd say
"You'll forget."

The cap on the toothpaste,
Who will remind me
To place it back,
The toilet seat,
To put it down?
Who can I do the pants dance for,
In mock anger with loosened belt,
So the pants would fall down
As I jumped like a clown
In a tantrum?
And she would laugh,
Oh, she would laugh heart music.

I am consumed,
I am empty,
I am hollowed out and paper-thin
As a Chinese lantern,
All light and thinness,
In a suffocating dark.
The songs are gone,
The rhythm is gone,
I am silent and undone.

Her detritus surrounds me,
But she is no more,
And all she meant to me
Is disconnected,
Tangled skeins,
No longer tapestry.
I am halved
and more than halved.

© Phil Hodgkins, 2002
 

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