leavings
lonely must smell like this



i am sure that it does, a dry
cobwebbed dusty scent like

an attic long after the family
has moved on to other things
abandoning special moments to
cardboard boxes and plastic garbage bags

or the musty aroma of a fall apple
shrunken into itself overlooked in
a dark pantry left a dull and wasted thing
juiceless and unwelcomed in the light.

leavings.