Something to Lose

Unlike the cars colliding

head-on in the other lane,

I still have something to lose.

Silence in the snowy woods.

Cats mingling in graceful curves.

Dogs smiling like celebrities.

Still, I must attend to the crash.

Both drivers look deceased

but raise their eyebrows when

I ask if they feel like skin-bags

full of archaeologic remains.

The afternoon makes a fist.

The police arrive and shrug me off.

I return to the silence, dogs, and cats,

and mentally add the boulders

upon which my daily life leans.