Like red vacuum, dirt devil

with soot staining his fingers

you sat at

my kitchen table

tried to make me

chuckle laugh as you

talked about skeletons

the decayed bodies 

white maggots that

crawled on carpets

black flies that

landed on lamp shades

and how you wrapped

the dead in plastic

for a fee

 

I sat listening

wondering about

her escaped soul

cold flesh that fell

from heaven’s palm

to land in ashes

and how difficult

a job it must be

to be a chimney sweeper

to lift the wings of

a dying angel

lost bird of freedom

caught in darkened chamber

of abandoned chimney

 

 

 

 

 

Removing the Body

Debbie Okun Hill

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