FAILURE TO TOAST

 

Failure to Toast

The blue flash particular
to a circuit fried
wisp of smoke, the smell
half charred crumbs
half wire sheathing burning
on the day the toaster oven died.
A small thing, familiar
UL certified
no whistle or bell
or grand sums
spent on “status” baking
just bagel warming at morningtide.
Here beneath the floorboards
of security
where we soften scapes
long past thrift
with twenty-five watt light
the “expired appliance warranty”
is epitaph the wards
of prosperity
hear as time to traipse
options sift
at the mall where no right
exists but the harsh rule of plenty.
To the bin, the broken
trash the obsolete
count as lost, beyond
repair those
who failed to court with toasts
network or successfully compete
of these no word spoken
judged human sleet
as if to respond
would impose
on best kept private ghosts
hold in abstraction cold bread, defeat.

(Marthe G. Walsh)

Well done, Marthe.