Here it is, the memento of that moment
When I realized the house had been
Ransacked: what all would be missing?
How would I tell Jan, who has a tender
Attachment to things sentimental and hers?
The police lifted fingerprints from the window
Where they’d broken in. The back door was
Open when I got there, but the cat hadn’t left
And didn’t seemed traumatized in the least
Who knows, maybe Secret was entertained by
The two (there had to be two–they carefully
Lifted the glass fronted bookcase off the trunk
To ransack its contents–almost all antique linens
Boy would I have loved to hear them curse
Our eclectic, worthless possessions: tons of books
And plants everywhere, worthless plants.
The electronics were all prehistoric.
They did steal two Macs and an I-pod, the computers
Are worthless-you can’t access without passwords.
One of them wasn’t even working. But the diamond
Stud earrings, yes those were worth something, and the pearl
Earrings. The necklace I bought Jan in Manhattan Beach,
Good gold, with malachite–the only thing I’ve given her
In almost a decade of sweetest companionship she treasured,
That left a definite sting. And roughly $5000 worth of
Possessions stolen, which we may not recover much of.
Everyone knows the violation of a break in–the sense
of vulnerability the fear each time you come home
Wondering if a thief’s been there before you this time too.
Acantholimon 