Saturday, November 25, 2023

Family Reunion

the guest bedroom holds many more things than a bed —

shelving packed with clothes, boxed items, loose items

large & small, dust & cat hair everywhere including

the bedcover — when I pull it back to look at the sheets

I find a cockroach dead on the pillow, the rest of house

mirrors the bedroom, overstocked & undercleaned

I pick at my supper, excuse myself before the others

return to the bedroom where I squirrel cockroach

plus pillow behind a closet door, fully clothed in the bed

I read, worry, barely sleep, & in the morning I stubbornly

tearfully insist that I must leave, everyone’s confused

they protest, later I learn they were irate, I organize

a ride to the airport where I rent a car, drive two days

home, lick my wound — the breach takes forever to heal


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