Marissa’s head peeks from underneath the sheets.

Days ago she saw her neighbors
Consume one another
Disease in their eyes
They were dead and hungry
She quietly bathed in perfume
Turned everything off
Sat in the dark, disconnected
Unknowing
What would come next?
She dared to eat a little dry cereal
And went to bed

Today, she listened, for hours
For anything
Hearing only her stomach
She’s so hungry, starving
A human hunger
Can she make it to the grocery store?
Should she bother with trying to live?

She skirts houses, crawls behind cars
Holds her nose against the stench,
Past the dirt pit
Past the industrial complex
Past the gas station, closed so long ago
Past the ancient schools
Past the churches
Past the Goodies
Past the old folks home
Past the funeral parlor
Past the billboards and political flyers

She saw she wasn’t the first
To raid the dry goods
A can of green beans
Saved for her
Rotten flesh all around
Has ceased to affect
Except, strangely the hound
Legless in the parking lot
Eyes left
Seem to beg....

She returns as she came
Past all that remains
All the signs of the old consumption
Made absurd by the new hunger
Made absurd by death

Home comforts
But, Marissa knows
She must leave, soon
Perhaps by the light of the moon
A survival bag, first aide kit
Water bottle, bat
Is toilet paper necessary,
Anymore?
A brush, the last bit of make-up
Shampoo, love letters....

By the time she is ready to sleep
One last night in her own bed
The sun is gone
There is no moon
Deathly quiet in her room
She thinks of her lover
Never came home that day
Working late, she likes to think
She smiles
This was really his bed
Marissa slides under the sheets
From which each morning she peeks
Teeth sink into her shoulder
She knows it’s over
He has made it home after all
And she feels the absurdity of her life
Drain into reason.

07/05/2006

Author's Note: ;)

Posted on 07/05/2006
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