THE ABSENCE

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Jul 19, 2018

By Jeffrey Zable

Above the deafening sounds of laughter, a hammer is ejecting a nail,

while a pig is devouring a bacon sandwich.

At the head of the table a noose is preparing a neck

by shining it with the finest perfume.

And once it’s ready, the sleeveless blouse will rise to the ceiling

and swallow the only light bulb in the room.

The toothless hatter will break out in yodel

and dance in the field of broken glass.

Me, I’m trying to sleep through the pain

while degenerate teenagers stick pins

into every memory that I’ve tried to forget.

And when the wind blows through this one good ear

I will open the window onto a dead end road

in which bodies are piled into the sky —

in which it hasn’t rained for a thousand years.