Life in a Vacuum

LIFE IN A VACUUM

Surely,
in this information-gathering world,
there is someone, somewhere, who
has emptied a thousand vacuum cleaner bags,
sorted and identified their contents,
and who knows the number of rubber bands,
pennies, punched out paper holes and staples
the average bag contains.

Surely
there is someone who could tell me
how many years past a dog’s death will I still
be finding golden hairs embedded in the couch,
or how many Christmases ago these
lifeless needles were still green and fragrant,
or for how many months I may yet encounter
your toenail clippings hiding in the rug?

Weeping, sweeping up the traces…
Surely it won’t be much longer.