6 :01 AM (My Heart Stopped Beating)

6 :01 AM (My Heart Stopped Beating)

Ricardo Antonio Garcia

The alarm clock rings at 6 AM.

The morning News

is slammed off cause its noise.

Peeking through the curtains

it’s the same

neighborhood that was there last night.

Life doesn’t seem to change much.

Day in and day out

the World just goes on turning

and the only thing different is my hair

it’s slowly turning gray.

I walk down

the stairs to the messy kitchen

its a war zone

of dishes and old food remnants

that has my signature all over it.
My Wife

left me over a year ago

and she

really did the best thing for herself.

She was good enough

to leave me a picture of her

which still sits

in the middle of the dining table.

I wonder why she left it there.

I look at my wristwatch

and its time to go.

The Cat scratches at the front door

and I let her in.

I think I’ve lost weight living alone.

Looking slimmer

I think

it’s a plus but that’s just ignorance.

I grab

the car keys from the wall hook

and the Cam

records me leaving as it does every morning.

I wanted to prove to my Wife

that I left every day

for work and took care of myself.

Elaine

just didn’t walk out on me, she died.

The Cat and me were all she had.

I looked at the bottle of Clorox

under the kitchen counter

and God knows I wanted to drink it.

I was a coward.

I really

didn’t want to be left here alone.

Starting the car

I drove

slowly out of our parking spot.

Stopping on the street

I looked back at the house.

All of the memories

poured back into me again.

Billy the local Cop

stopped right beside me, and asked

if I was okay – sure I was okay.

Slowly driving away

I made a u-turn

and headed for the causeway.

The Sun

was glaring into my eyes

and I was

listening to KRKO talk radio.

It started to heterodyne

like a

short wave radio of many years ago.

I slammed on the brake.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

… Richard, I love you … God is real…

The alarm clock rings at 6 AM.

My heart stopped beating at 6:01 AM …