rusted

a three-legged stool,
with all three legs broken,
sits in the trash heap now.
to refuse: to crumple up
and abandon that which is
not worth the price of
recovering spare parts
from salvage lots or
thrift bins
scattered with old hearts
rusted a dull orange that can
kill, disease covered nails
lying buried at the bottom
of the pile
of bodies beyond count.
I find pride in my ability
to track numbers though,
first days
then months
then years,
like only watching videotapes
on rewind and in silence.
I wish never to be touched again
if to be touched by love
that deep
means inevitable separation,
blood split into cells and water,
cells further split into organelles,
then atomized into space
and stuff;
and where you and you
and I lie apart
is in the space
in the silence
in the decomposing bits
the earth only can
make sense of.