Refrigerator

Death leaks
Onto kitchen tiles

Tinged with rust.
A spilled jar

Of gherkins
Lies empty

At the top of
The wastebasket.

One by one,
The last items

Are removed
And trays

Wiped clean.
It stands

Unplugged,
An empty shell,

And is carried
Onto the porch,

Where just for
A moment

One workman pauses
To readjust his grip,

Looking back through
An empty house,

feeling a chill
inside his chest

and a door peppered
with drawings

swinging shut
and a light going off.

Find more by Thomas Reynolds in the Author Index.

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