Dirt

Lights burned

Why do we use that word, burn?

I guess we’ll see.

The engine sputtered to life

Then, six hours later, and many miles later,

It died.

He stepped out

Onto the gravel he had 

So missed.

It was dark, probably

That didn’t matter right now

Because

All he could see was the burning lights in front of him

Do you know how much he had missed this place?

He had once been on a date, he thought

Upon which he spoke only of this place

She was displeased but

It didn’t matter he

Didn’t even

Remember who she was

He stumbled up the driveway

Practically

Drooling

At the thought of reentering his home his

Place his

House

And what a lovely life he had

Had here

He and his siblings

(how many? He couldn’t say.)

Would play and run and fight amongst 

The halls

He and his siblings were special

They had had a special life and childhood for a reason

One day, they sprung forth from their mother’s forehead

Sans père

Via, he assumed, immaculate conception

He, in a stupor, wrenched open the door of the house

And was met with

Paradise

In the yard, exactly four hundred

Seconds after he had turned some age

He had eaten a rabbit alive

He had once spent hours on a lovely card

For his mother’s birthday

She was bedridden, still 

Sore from their emergence

He scrambled on all fours

Up the main staircase 

His favorite food

His siblings' favorite food was

Applesauce he thought

Every inch of the walls

Were covered with extravagant 

Taxidermied animals mounted

On carefully carved plates

Carved to fit into each other like

Puzzle pieces

He had once spent three hours in

The shower struggling

To wash the coagulated

Blood out of his hair

He found himself in his mother’s bedroom

Where

He had once found himself

Once he had sat watching 

The fire

In the fireplace blaze for

So long

Once he had stepped on a 

Cat

Until it came

Apart

He was in the bedroom of

Some man who had lived

Here 

He had once microwaved

(or did microwaves exist yet?)

A human ear he had 

Found while on one

Of his

Hourly walks

He was in the kitchen where

The oven was open and the microwave

(so they did!)

Was open

He crashed through

The house

And found firewood

Stacked in every room

He crashed through 

The house

And found rat poison

Stashed in every room

The house was too warm

For it being winter

He thought

He had once 

Buried someone

In the basement 

Which was easy because

The cellar (what’s the difference?)

Floor was 

Entirely 

dirt.

- John Scully