Either an intruder’s in the house or I’m shopping online. An intruder or stargazer lilies in a vase. A noise my body makes. My body in a different room. Yesterday we played I was the prisoner. I ate the toy bread. I tried to remember a song. A song about a train we keep missing. A noise the windows make. Either burnt sienna or terra cotta curtains. Either I forgot my password or the name of the street I grew up on. I grew up thinking my clothes were shrinking. I sang this train is bound for glory. I stole cigarettes from my father while he slept. I prayed for something terrible to happen. What was the name of the hurricane that shattered our windows? Either it just happened or we deserved it. Never enough time to evacuate. Ready to check out? The sun’s still there behind the clouds. My body still bound for glory. That grackle flying into the mirror again and again, or laundry waiting in a basket.
Steve Healey