Vainglorious Ending Poem by Patti Masterman

The whole world longs to fill itself up with drama,
Even a child’s learning to tie his shoelaces
Could occupy several long minutes, easily;
And a divorce could hold our attention till afternoon,
Until the cascade of emotions has frozen over more solidly
And when the motion ceases, there is much less to be noticed.

A spoon’s casual relationship with the China
Is best remembered by acoustic clanging noises;
A knife, as it pierces some flesh,
Muting it to the same tonal key
As the screams that echo off the black, polished metal
Of a casket passing quietly beside us,
While the deeper silence stays locked inside it,
The reversed sounds of an entire lifetime
Condensed down to the muffled scrabblings
Of a few rooting insects.