Taps Reversed

All the unpaid bills

Wrestling interest rates

While past-due dates wait with their boutonnieres

And the slumping bike

Strangled with a lock

That we forgot the combination to

The old house drinks everything we hide

And hums sad songs that keep us up all night

With the doorknobs loose

And the pipes that burst

With the fuses blown

And the taps reversed

The calender requests

A meeting to discuss

The time we waste: "When would be good for you?"

And the sidewalk cracks

Spell the way back home

In one uninterrupted palindrome

The old house keeps all of our receipts

In envelopes secured with rubber bands

Oh, the blinking snow

And the dark dispersed

With a smear removed

With our taps reversed