Buttercups and Fingernails

 

Buttercups and Fingernails

 

Buttercups and fingernails

Sandcastles made of raw sewage

Beautiful flowers arranged

At funerals

Or the side of a road.

Perfectly crafted cupcakes

Glistening with maggots

In the sun

Teddy bears and chocolates

Tributes placed at the feet of

Mangled pushchairs.

 

Vultures delivering babies

Children’s drawings hanging in prison cells

Wedding rings floating in toilet bowls

Christmas puddings baked by dying men

In hospital wards.

Christening parties for the stillborn

Collection cups for businessmen

Bedside manners and mourning clothes

Victory parades and celebrations

For the murdered and the maimed.

 

Coal miners coughing up blood

At a birthday party

Wedding anniversary ruined

By sudden heart attack,

Husband sprawled across the table.

School projects made of cancer lung

Stuck to canvasses

Memorial service halted

By aneurysm anguishes.

 


 

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