Preservation

In this madhouse
the absent-minded spasms of middle fingers
into the faces of those paid to care less
carelessly than the relatives who had delivered the dessicated-shadow humans at reception
while nodding at visiting times they would never keep
made no impact.
Whoever they were before
they had become
the same no one –
Nonentities. Jammed into precasket boxes.
Preserved till shelf life expiry.

Shiva R. Joyce

Shiva R Joyce is an Irish-Antipodean, BrownSkinIslanderGal poet and printmaker. She is finding the places and spaces that challenge and grow her writing through reading.