Ode to the Garbage Man
by Monika Basile
Morning's coming in the dark
Gravel crunching
Tires, brakes squealing
And the air is burning beneath my soul
Where are my keys?
I lost them somewhere
In-between awake and dreaming
Somewhere
Or did you throw them as far as you could to keep me a
prisoner
Here?
The smell
Of rotten daydreams
Seeping beneath the door
And they stand on street curbs
Laughing, joking
Never realizing
All I am
Is in the bottom
Of a rusty, dirty garbage can
Where the rain
Has colleted
And made heavy
When it used to be lighter than the clouds
And I am covered
Head to toe
Toe to head
With the stink of last night's nightmare
Covering me like quilts of shame
As you
Left me out behind the garage
Forgetting
I used to be someone
You loved.