Various Trends in Spare Parts

sure
I was in that car cemetery

rats and mangled metal
busted glass and snapping dogs
and some guy paunchy
a week unshaven
telling me he’s got
the Toyota part I need

made me dream
of the body parts lot
where I went for
the nose that fell off someone’s face
to replace this one of mine
some lips from corpses
a leg that was just lying around

with everything that feels absurd
there’s always a true absurdity
waiting to eclipse it

like when I said my heart was yours
and I gave you chocolates
in a heart-shaped box

you ate every last one,
ditched the box

so it was back to that body parts lot
for me

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John Grey is an Australian-born poet who works as financial systems analyst. Recently published in Poem, Spindrift, Prism International, and the horror anthology What Fears Become, with work upcoming in Potomac Review, Hurricane Review and Pinyon.