Spontaneous Combustion

All those cookie fortunes

and teabag proverbs,

those greeting cards laser cut

into the shapes of Looney Tunes

characters, the frayed cords 

and greased-stained instruction manuals, 

the rules for games no longer played,

the burned-down birthday candles

and half-inflated balloons,

any one of these things crammed

into that drawer could have been

the source, according to 

the fire marshal’s report.

[LSS, 12/18/20]