The Day After

By his own hand

Drank a bottle of whiskey and let the dog out

doused himself with lighter fluid         

struck a strike-anywhere wooden stick match

Later the firemen came and put out the fire

someone took his body away

and boarded up the windows with plywood

no one ever saw the dog again

My uncle and  father grabbed me and drove over to his house 

 broke the lock on the garage and  got a ladder 

up against a side window hidden from the street, pried off the plywood

and climbed into the house, first one in the house since the fire                                  

his chair was gone along with the table that sat next to it

there was an empty whiskey bottle exploded on the floor

charred carpet and lingering whispering damp smoke smell

a melted rotary dial phone on the floor

I opened the front door

they went to the bedroom

and took all the valuables before the insurance adjusters came

they would say the fireman took them