No Room in the Skeleton House

I see they’re running out of space
in Hades / Gehenna /
Xibalba / Valhalla /
Bardo / Tartarus / Mag Mell /
call it what you will
it makes no difference

so don’t be surprised
if you see someone
jigsawed back together
& sitting too still opposite you
on a tube train
lost in their own final thoughts

they’re popping up everywhere
only yesterday
I looked up to see a young woman
staring out at me
from a shop window
the surprised look on her face
paused forever
                        a line of holes
gauged across her chest

and how could I forget
the hastily-reassembled small boy
that sits between us on the sofa
he’s been there for weeks
I tried reading him stories
even turned over
to the cartoon channel
but it was no use
                                    when we go up
we leave the light turned on
it seems wrong to turn it off somehow
as if we’re giving up on him

of course others are more serene
not a mark on them
I came across an old man
laid on the bed in our spare room
as if he were merely taking a nap
but there was no waking him

they say they’re under more pressure
than ever before
distraught relatives
cradling their sheeted loved ones
queueing at the door
boxes piled up in corridors

they say the only way forward
is to sell it all off to the private sector
it’s what they’ve been trying to do for years
pay the ferryman in advance
prepayment schemes for eternity
as advertised on daytime TV

please do your best to stay alive
and avoid killing people
at what is a difficult time for us all
you may find simple remedies
are available from
your local pharmacist

Dominic Rivron
Picture Nick Victor

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