“You can’t live
Your life
With the lights off”
Is what my
Mother told me,

But what
If that bulb
Suspended
Has blown its fuse
Too fast?

Like pain
Which leaves me dark
And reminds me
God’s not
Waiting,

For a switch
Up there
In heaven
Can’t turn this lamp
Back on

Or brighten
All my ills
And reveal
Some hidden
Answer

Where currents
Cease
Their function
When power
Is facing fear

Near sockets
Left exposed
Begging
These nervous
Fingers

To replace
Each broken fixture
By using
My hand
Instead.

Electricity
Isn’t brilliance
But rather
A useful
Danger

Applied
As something luminous
Whether seized
Or fatally
Charged.

– J. Pigno