When We Go

the robots are busy cleaning up after us:
the dust in the rugs, the dander on the couch
the tangles of hair left in the blankets
the corpses piled in the doorway. everything

is sucked up by evidence-erasing nozzles
poured into black garbage bags
separated and incinerated.

eventually, there will be nothing left
but manicured lawns
and empty houses with sparkling countertops
perfectly-made beds.

Holly Day’s poetry has recently appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Grain, and The Tampa Review. Her newest poetry collections are In This Place, She Is Her Own (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press), A Wall to Protect Your Eyes (Pski’s Porch Publishing), Folios of Dried Flowers and Pressed Birds (Cyberwit.net), Where We Went Wrong (Clare Songbirds Publishing), Into the Cracks (Golden Antelope Press), and Cross Referencing a Book of Summer (Silver Bow Publishing), while her newest nonfiction books are Music Theory for Dummies and Tattoo FAQ.