my grandmother used to have me wipe the table
clean as usual after dinner
those days babysitting her
delirium
then I got out her old encyclopaedia
britanica
and read from 1910 another
world altogether
24 years later I sold the set to my brother
fifty dollars
some extra funds at the
second wife
"we didn't need to do that"
she would say
whenever I sacrificed to her
shopping addiction
she spent everything
even the rent
you think I would learn I
need to live alone
my grandmother did
then she died
is that all there is ?
yes
m o n s t e r s
out here