POETRY - Guilt Shop:

   
Fabian Theater by Mark Hillringhouse

From Mark Hillringhouse's latest book, Between Frames (Serving House Press, 2012) 

Guilt Shop 

                        (from misreading a road sign that said “Quilt Shop”)

All there in one place,
everything you’ve ever felt bad about
losing or breaking
next to those items
you should have gotten
but forgot—
Like the time you forgot
your wife’s birthday,
or your brother’s graduation,
or your best friend’s wedding.
On the wall
is the half-hearted,
last minute, cheap substitute
for a gift you gave your mother
one Mother’s Day.
You still remember
how you hated to give her anything.
And over by the door
is the chair you smashed
for something you no longer care about.
All the things
you ever hurled in a fit of rage
and had to sweep up
are for sale here.
Piece by piece,
you pick them up again
and fondle the torn photographs
and letters you ripped apart,
all symbols of your life:
The rock you threw at your brother
is displayed on the counter.
The money you stole
is in the cash register
in an envelope with your name,
along with the loan you never repaid.
The clocks with minutes of your life ticking out,
all the time you wasted,
is recorded here:
the nights you got drunk,
the women you walked out on,
the phone calls you promised to make,
the poems you would write—
everything you ever gave up,
every one you ever rejected,
everything you ever felt bad about,
or destroyed in a fit of rage
is for sale here

To purchase Mark Hilringhouse's most recent collection of poetry and photographs, Between Frames (Serving House Press, 2012) click here

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