POETRY

Falling Apart
By Jeneen Garcia
Entry to the 19th Cornelio Faigao Writers Workshop (April, 2002)

At first, it was just
the family oven
your parents gave her
on your wedding day.
After all, it had always made
those funny little sounds.
Then the stereo broke down
when you tried playing
"My Way" for the nth time,
which she used to love
hearing you sing,
followed by the TV
that's now stuck at
your favorite business channel.

You've always wondered why
Nothing precious ever lasts
Around the house -
The first bed you saved up for
With all those nights
Of overtime pay,
The mattress now
All bumpy and splitting
At the seams;
The double-lock system
You got without discount
To keep your family
Safely inside
That the youngest figured out
after only a year.
But it wasn't the new roof
falling in yesterday
that finally
made you cry.

It was the empty,
four-bedroom house
still standing
echoing the sound of your world
crashing down.