today

they gather to build a nest of plaster and regrets

a gang of misfits with a secret handshake everyone knows

a tank of gas and broken compass is what this day begets

sharing pretzels and blue gummies with each other and the crows

children with skinned knees and well worn sneakers

Gather round to skip stones on the pond of their parents tears

Backpacks no longer needed for lesson plans of retired teachers

Picnic lunches served with plastic forks on golden biers

convention badges and extension lashes walk the corridors

brief hellos and brand new cloths share brief glances

Egos gutted by assassins who leave the bones for coroners

skinny jeans and high heels praying for romances

prayers recited like peddlers at the weekend bazaar

bargain hunters exchanging sins for rented smiles

All that’s left for the empty handed is the feathers and the tar

cheap blessings piled up like silk scarves in the discount aisles

Vinyl sofas with cork laid coasters in matted seafoam

adorned with dim lit lamps of indian descent

filled with gin sippers who play Parcheesi and shout shalom

as the hookah ash drifts slowly to a cluttered vent

Slippers by the bed for a widow who no longer cries

swishes her lukewarm coffee between crafted teeth

somewhere lost between life and death is where she lies

upon the mantle sits porcelain figures and a tattered wreath

Depressed Swans longing to be ugly ducklings

Reading editorials of climate change and moral falls

aghast at the news of smuggled children and drug kings

with beaks filled with tainted seed and secret hauls