Empty chairs and empty tables
dot the corners of the kitchen section,
their decorations all taken.
They wonder where everything’s going;
The bar stock is low, the gadgets are gone,
With appliances soon to follow.
A mannequin undressed
stands at the corner of the furniture section,
awaiting her turn to find a new home.
She watches as travelers
take her family, one by one,
until the final sale is done.
A cardboard Christmas cutout
sits dormant in storage,
waiting for winter to come again.
The slumbering nutcracker dreams
of happy children’s faces,
unaware that its days are numbered.
A clothing rack now empty
is moved off to the sidelines,
relieved of its coat-holding duties.
It doesn’t know whether to be relieved
because its burdens are over…
or terrified, of what comes after.
A crest adorns the escalator walls,
proclaiming a legacy
of trade and community.
Its corners are beaten,
and pieces are missing…
Yet even still, it dreams.
It dreams of lifetimes gone,
and of futures yet to be…
futures it will not live to see.
30/30 Challenge Day 4 Prompt – Living with Art
Tyler DeWriter 