Do not repeat any word

Father returns without food again
yesterday, today, tomorrow.
water has left our home.
lack of bread threatens daily breath,
walls can smile too
boxes have their ways through circles
or around them sometimes.
cooking pots hold water no more,
leaking is one way to excrete,
also defence from being burnt.
curtains veil where wounds would’ve been,
carpets offer solace when rats mourn
drunkenness is not sin
so long you don’t get caught
fornication, gossip, greed, bathing etcetera.
clothes cover sore skin,
leprosy crowns kinsmen.
poverty knows how names sound.
never go
far from home.

Younglan Talyoung