Arson

We saw the smoke from the fire before the fire itself, like you always do.
So much smoke that on the bus on the way home,
our grade school selves couldn’t figure out where it came from,
and then as we got closer, I saw my neighbor’s house, engulfed
and another, smaller column of smoke coming from the trailer on the hill.
Your parents took what they could –
a coin collection, a stamp collection, more –
and then set fire to your grandparents house, also an antique store.
To throw authorities off, they then set fire
to your house, the trailer on the hill:
burned both to cover their greedy fingerprints.

I always wondered: did you get your favorite toys out first?
Did you know or did they send you to school like any other day?