Cast Shadows

Cast Shadows

(Inspired by the Jiri Barta film The Club of the Laid Off)

The abandoned building beckons

paint flakes the wall

falling like downcast eyes,

an eerie dull light seeps insipidly

from and crescent moon,

a flickering dull-bright from

the cracks beneath the antique doors.

Damp musty scents waft over me

the prescence of coal gas menacing,

somewhere a clock ticks loudly,

reinforcing the curse of mortality,

broken glass litters the cracked floor

jammed with bits of ambitious rust.

She stirs the blood filled stew
the broken stove creaks,

dinner for the laid off

half warm, soon.

the boy’s clock chimes his return

his broken lamp lifeless

casting shadows on nothing!

                                                            Screen shot from Jiri Barta's film Club Of The Laid Off