-obsession-

late last night I thought of something.

something remarkable.

somehow it fell asleep and drifted

into a space of its own.

now I can’t recall it.

I’ve searched the house

and the undersides of its belongings.

I found nothing but misery.

tufts of dust that could only be

remnant afterthoughts of my great

grandfather who they say walked

from his home in the old country

and never returned.

I found nothing but misery.

damp things.

the scent of old iron.

the cries of rust.

a dark, useless coin-of-the-realm.

a Canadian Penny.

I found nothing but misery.

I cursed the memory

of my sainted mother who

deep-cleaned before and after company,

my treasures sucked-up by a bloated

Electrolux who never learned the lesson to exhale.

on the hunt, common necessities

became extinct.

food, water, and clothing became obsolete.

I was blinded during the stillness of dusk

and in the cool of the early evening,

readied myself for the mechanical

rattlings of the second shift.