A thud. A shot. A riot of blood. A hailstorm of shrapnel.
A pull of the plug. A spill of pathogens.
A filling of the carbon monoxide tank called the lungs.
Or the slow painful crawl........
The physical landscape has changed
Billowy tents. Silken cloth hung in place.
Plants have withered. Tree barks more twisted.
The alive in pain. A cascade of ages.
Very old to older to old to younger to young.
They all seem relative
As the frail sends her children off
The logic of chronology reversed. (What is logic?)
Antagonism over rites
The Iron Curtain of Religion.
Why fear a corpse of a different faith
Oh, the intricacies of superstition's stitches.
Some get comfort. Some are genuine.
For their sake, I hope its not the Opium.
Taken-for-granted. The permanence hits hard.
Tears abruptly shed. A colorful hybrid of truthfulness and hypocrisy
Homo sapiens are an amazing species.
Sit by the tables. Crack peanuts and melon seeds
Sip packets of Dimetapp.
A venue for separated large families to meet
Where else but Hatch, Match and Dispatch?
Why hold on to bitterness. We've re-glued the fragments.
What the fuck is wrong with you, you bitter shriveled gourd.
Wind in your face. Assault on the senses. Ravage of the mind.
Huge cauldron of porridge. Abandoned soiled bowls in tubs.
Walk through the aisle of the makeshift kitchen
A figurative descent into a surreal paradigm
Yet paradoxically on level ground.
Is the atmosphere sombre
Is the mood detached?
A cacophony of emotions surging through my organism
Screaming through my brain.
Black cats jump. "Don't let it hop over the coffin"
Pry away from the composite of riot
Even the faint echoes and mere vestiges fade away
An old shoe rots away.
See the lone wooden box
That is what I call a sense of Peace.

--P