Warranty

i threw it away

because i had no use for it

anymore

it was an empty reminder

of what had been

but no longer was

she told me to keep it

but i couldn't understand

her reasoning for keeping a

reminder

of such a dead thing

i should have asked her to

clarify but

i figured it best not to

i had no regret seeing it

sit there on top of the pile

of garbage

facing its fate

a death that only

inanimate objects can know

or amorphous words such as

love

hate

hope

faith

how can there be one standard

definition in the dictionary

for any of those words

that conjure up so many

tendrils

snaking around synapses

a lifetime

or experience bays

and flashes in a moment

of cinematic

display

memory shown in high definition

the reel runs

on a fleshy gray hard drive

with a shelf life

it knows

will short out one day

there will be no replacement

model

no upgrade that can be made to save

the machine from being replaced

by the new model

being manufactured

newer

sleeker

the available amount of storage space

tends to an average

that rarely changes

the machine varies in its make

but all based on a design

with occasional modifications

by the user

none of us are sure

if our warranty

is still good

or if it has expired

already.