Gary Edward Geraci

Secondary Causes

The prime rib morsels sliced for a thick sandwich

(To be paired with a slice of Swiss cheese and pickles)

Plummet to the floor where they are trodden

Under a flip-flopped foot; a few pieces

Resting along the kitchen baseboard moulding

Where a generous amount of insecticide

Had been sprayed just a few months earlier.

The possibility of contamination

Too real to be ignored, the food no longer

 

Fit for human consumption, now food for

The dogs, fodder, or better yet, refuse

For the receptacle, finds its way into the

Hands of a homeless man who has prayed for

Something to satisfy his rapacious hunger.

 

Gary Edward Geraci