She Lived in a Maytag Box.
She Lived In A Maytag Box. ©-MFB III
She lived in
a large
cardboard box
that once held
a refrigerator,
that was plugged in
somewhere far from her
and now held
an abundance of food ,
the likes of which
she hadn't seen
in months .
Her humble possessions
were an army blanket,
vomit and blood
stained and
twice discarded,
plus a comb with
four teeth
1/4 of what her
own mouth contained.
These were guarded
like gold.
She kept the ratty comb
only because a woman
has to look
presentable once
in a while .
She didn't start out
in a box
she used to exist
in a cubicle
and it supported
her in far better
style less tax
deductions.
The cubicle still
exists
without her a
scant 4 blocks
away but is now
occupied by
another working stiff .
She lived now unnoticed
in her tiny space
of cardboard cells
by the flows of people
who passed her
humble abode,
with a haughty lift
to their heads .
She would have died
in total obscurity
if not for the
carelessness
of a cigarette bummed
and then smoked
in a condition far to
weary for pyrotechnical
devices....and the
next morning
she was at long last
noticed by those
who walked by her
front yard of concrete
and brick canyons.
The flashing lights
and body bag
drew their attention
much more rapidly
then she ever
could have hoped to.
She also got a notice
in the metro section
of the local paper
but an obituary
failed to materialize,
because she remained
unidentified,
homeless,
faceless,
nameless,
even in death.
Some of the ashes
of the
cardboard box
and her cremains
were carried
on a slight breeze
to a small strip of grass
near her residential hovel .
There they enriched the soil
just enough to produce
a single dandelion,
that weeks later
was promptly pulled
by a city worker
plucking litter
and unwanted weeds
from the streets
of Anytown U.S.A.
