Quotidian Solstice

a quiet winter afternoon

yet sleep evades me

its smoggy outside

leaves are dry and

the wind's relentless

christmas will be

upon us, soon

a shelf stuffed with unread

books and rejected manuscripts

trash-can puking cigarette

butts and take-out food

a bedsheet that reeks of

despair and loneliness

unpaid bills and disconnection

warnings stuck on the walls

yo-yo ma playing bach on CD

the tea grows colder and weaker

a life erased

yet the world still rotates

and revolves as if nothing

happened.