My older sister Nancy and I walk down the street together. In our hands are plastic grocery bags that smell like shame and old onions. We are going trick-or-treating. I know we're getting too old fo ... [+]
One is to wish that she hadn’t been in bed,
(But she was, which is the other way)
Then she could have jumped from the seventh floor
(Unlike how she had been driven out of it)
By herself,
(Which left no chance for gravity to abet)
To save her cat.
(But truly a break for the family)
They thus wouldn’t have had to recognise
(They were nevertheless afflicted by)
Her swollen face,
(Her frail bones)
Her frail bones,
(Her swollen face)
And all that they could have done is
(As the exemption from witness was)
To imagine her body crushing into the ground
(To be desired – but yet to be granted –)
By the force of her fallen body from the seventh floor.
(By a murderer of their kind)
Even I could have told myself:
(In a way that I wasn’t able to)
“No way you could have arranged a car”
(And there wasn’t any buffer, be it a cat or a car)
“Below where she’d fall”
(Where guilt would lie)
“Or even if you could have,”
(Even if there was one)
A car couldn’t have cushioned
(It wouldn’t be able to tolerate)
The force of the body on the seventh floor.”
(The weight of death)
Yet she was in bed, waiting.
(To be or being murdered)
Unlike the speed of falling,
(Shouldn’t have happened so slowly)
So gradually, it left enough time for them
(Which would have hardly meant any excuse)
To notice,
(Not to notice)
To care, and
(Not to care)
To arrange a car,
(Or not to arrange a car)
To bring her home
(And ultimately not to)
On the seventh floor.
(But she was, which is the other way)
Then she could have jumped from the seventh floor
(Unlike how she had been driven out of it)
By herself,
(Which left no chance for gravity to abet)
To save her cat.
(But truly a break for the family)
They thus wouldn’t have had to recognise
(They were nevertheless afflicted by)
Her swollen face,
(Her frail bones)
Her frail bones,
(Her swollen face)
And all that they could have done is
(As the exemption from witness was)
To imagine her body crushing into the ground
(To be desired – but yet to be granted –)
By the force of her fallen body from the seventh floor.
(By a murderer of their kind)
Even I could have told myself:
(In a way that I wasn’t able to)
“No way you could have arranged a car”
(And there wasn’t any buffer, be it a cat or a car)
“Below where she’d fall”
(Where guilt would lie)
“Or even if you could have,”
(Even if there was one)
A car couldn’t have cushioned
(It wouldn’t be able to tolerate)
The force of the body on the seventh floor.”
(The weight of death)
Yet she was in bed, waiting.
(To be or being murdered)
Unlike the speed of falling,
(Shouldn’t have happened so slowly)
So gradually, it left enough time for them
(Which would have hardly meant any excuse)
To notice,
(Not to notice)
To care, and
(Not to care)
To arrange a car,
(Or not to arrange a car)
To bring her home
(And ultimately not to)
On the seventh floor.