140

ABANDONMENT AND INDEPENDENCE

Lighten up! intoned
The government boom box
Aimed at depleting my compound
Of its flickering demand for an encore.

The barge the pyrotechnics
Fouled with fuses and casings
Was cleared of suitcases
And is currently adrift

I am your captain.
These chairs I seem to drag around
Anchor and ballast me --
I scan the deck for the grand finale.