The body smoldered in the remains of the house
for a day before they
The grotesque scramble of scorched bones,
blackened flesh and fragments of fabric
howls amid the shattered ruins of the house
like carrion in a horror flick. Rodents and insects
unaccustomed to such pickings scurry around
the margins of artistic lawns to attend.
Neighbours fuel up from behind custom-made
venetian blinds like drivers slowing to gawk.
The nightmare is framed by a yellow police ribbon
haunted by an aura of dark smoke and the stench;
blinking, sleeping and waking will not dismiss it.
It will always be the place that festering mismatch
simmered into his knife slashes that trashed
her life in a parking lot. and exploded his furies
screaming into everyone’s. The stink of ashes
steals into kitchens and bedrooms—looking
for all the other kindling waiting for ignition.
