Silencing the Door
Alone in their house
(to water plants)
you rub it with butter.
Your greased fingers trace
the hinges, the worn and thirsty
wood of the jamb.
And in this Alice-in-Wonderland
mirror of back-to-backs
you glimpse your own home,
from a doorway you’ve only ever seen
beyond your backyard wall
with a door that sticks,
that shuts with kicking and grunts;
the screech and snap of bolts.
Or opens with a crash
and the hot breath
of cooking and canned laughter.
You have waited years
for this chance…
but suddenly notice
butter smeared on the glass,
traces of rust from the bolts
in a smudged red handprint
across their clean white fridge.
Page(s) 37
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