This is a house
falling and
so many under the roof
will be compressed
into somebody’s unfortunate
consequence
and now
and then an escapee will
be asked, “wasn’t it worth it
to be out from under”
and they
won’t know what to say
with their flattened faces
grown long and broken from
the trauma of having been
inside the rotten house
as it fell.
This is a house
falling and
all over the neighborhood
bricks are being thrown into
the yards and through
the windows and
look at all the people
bleeding and calling out
for shelter and protection and
they are asked
“isn’t it nice
to have light from where
that nasty building used to be”
and they won’t understand
after being blinded by
flying glass.
This is a house
falling and
noise and brown dust
are choking and strangling
people who were hoping
to be heard in the
stillness after its collapse
and they are asked “are you
better off now that it’s not
holding you back” and
they try to answer in the
affirmative for those
who were outside already
and missed all the damage
from the moment the damned
house fell, the kids and others
who will benefit in the absence
of the fallen house
while the ones who were inside
and knew it was going to fall
accept death and the weight of debris as
the price of someone else’s hope.