Light cast away by Simon Denegri (Dec 2013)
He stood in the kitchen
The lights dimmed
And the windows shut
Tight.
He stood and wondered
How long it would be
Before someone cared
Enough
To touch him awake
Asking no more of him
Than love,
Love.
But with every singular day that passes
His self shrinks inside skin that feels
Old and cold and hard
Like food left on the side.
Or abandoned, faded toys in a winter garden
Like the old linoleum kitchen floor
Or the encrusted ketchup jar
Long-forgotten at the foot of the fridge door.
II
In the evenings
And on monochrome days
He senses the walls close in
Around him.
Minutes become hours.
Hours turn to days.
In unremitting, open-ended
Silent, lonely horror.
III
Now,
His only words are those
That churn inside his head
Imagined conversations.
Or written on the page
In isolated rage
Were the phone to ring
Or someone knock at the door
He would not answer, fearing
He could not unlock his tongue.
IV
No second place laid
No bed freshly made
No shirts ironed
Or morning teas-made
One by one
He ticks off the names and faces
Of loved-ones
And those that were simple passes.
IV
This morning in the hallway
The last electric bulb went out
Its filament burnt
Its light cast away.
Simon Denegri Poetry 