june 3 - acts of faith

today's prompt is - acts of faith

Bottle caps, used matches, smoke and dust
Crinkled brown paper bags
The lining of this nest is starting to accumulate
Unwanted grievances

Late in the afternoon
When the constant struggle of the day
Is shelved temporarily
I set to my task
Lining the bottles up
In groups of five, six, seven
Retrieved from under beds,
In between sofa cushions
And windowsills that have forgotten
What was once invited in
From the other side of the windowpane

Losing count is of no distress,
More so necessary
When transporting these hollow bodies

Rendering the bottles unto shards
Undoing the 22 ounces
until the weight of the shards
is laid out, like a mulch over the nest floor
and the true tests of strength can be performed

walking barefoot backwards into the nest
holding ones breath,
trying to discern
whether or not what’s felt is really
bottle caps, used matches, smoke and dust