Christmas Zen #1 Poem by Eric Cockrell

small children with dirty faces
playing on a cold floor;
rags stuffed in cracks,
'round the windowsills
roaches run up the walls,
Christmas music on the radio
cut off notice on the table;
young woman stares, half dreaming,
of stockings with nuts and oranges
(& the remembered scent of hot chocolate!)

crack pipe falls to the floor
as snow begins to fall
small children with dirty faces
playing on a cold floor