hell is a lonely place - a poem

asbestos

Well-known member
  • May 5, 2022
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    View attachment 211228

    he was 65, his wife was 66, had
    Alzheimer's disease.

    he had cancer of the
    mouth.
    there were
    operations, radiation
    treatments
    which decayed the bones in his
    jaw
    which then had to be
    wired.

    daily he put his wife in
    rubber diapers
    like a
    baby.

    unable to drive in his
    condition
    he had to take a taxi to
    the medical
    center,
    had difficulty speaking,
    had to
    write the directions
    down.

    on his last visit
    they informed him
    there would be another
    operation: a bit more
    left
    cheek and a bit more
    tongue.

    when he returned
    he changed his wife's
    diapers
    put on the tv
    dinners, watched the
    evening news
    then went to the bedroom, got the
    gun, put it to her
    temple, fired.

    she fell to the
    left, he sat upon the
    couch
    put the gun into his
    mouth, pulled the
    trigger.

    the shots didn't arouse
    the neighbors.

    later
    the burning tv dinners
    did.

    somebody arrived, pushed
    the door open, saw
    it.

    soon
    the police arrived and
    went through their
    routine, found
    some items:

    a closed savings
    account and
    a checkbook with a
    balance of
    $1.14
    suicide, they
    deduced.

    in three weeks
    there were two
    new tenants:
    a computer engineer
    named
    Ross
    and his wife
    Anatana
    who studied
    ballet.

    they looked like another
    upwardly mobile
    pair.


    C. Bukowski
     
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