Plastic Eggs Stain My Teeth

I poked at the heart
with an open umbrella
the old man's cane
surgery without ever
attending medical school
or watching tv

I picked my head up
and tried to read the digital
clock in the store window
but the half-bottle of aspirin
blocked the minutes
so I either had some time
or

I left him where he was
the rain had stopped
months ago
so I filled my pockets
with pennies and
sprinkled them among
the children with hungry
faces

I convinced their tummies
they were filled with chocolate
copper and brown mixed into
dirt
left a crunchy taste
like desert skin or
the tales wives lie about

and the size of their fingers
told me where they
hoped to find their next
meal