All I Ever Had

Backlit by fire, nameless, famous
all that talk weaves a conjured up mess
with no body to speak of (nobody)
reading the headlines and inhaling
until the last                          breath

Bones wrapped in silk
for a pretty box the bowl of brain
and these stories (empty rooms)
anticlimactic or ordinary
the gift of nobody                 who

Any Bob or Joe or Johnny any
body the accidental physics of the throat
but this is history this voice (box)
won't you help to sing
this gentle coffin                   this song

KATHY LOU SCHULTZ