Afternoon Alone in the Apartment
grooveamatic
Posts: 1,374
Shelves of aging mementos, photographs
Of genuine moments, smiles.
The hats we used to wear!
My roommate
(old chum from the war days)
Strikes various poses,
Baring teeth gratuitously
Across our shelves.
A basket, with apples, centered on the second-hand
Table with the long green cloth.
The laptop computer, closed, the size of a cigar box.
And things with no use:
The steamer trunk sidling a wall,
A weekly coupon-clipper
Brought by the prissy mail-lady
Tossed aside, quaintly forgotten.
Pale blue shopping bags
Like tumbleweeds,
Strewn.
That clear plastic container of toothpicks.
A shrunken hall table holding keys,
My wallet,
Old notes to each other,
And soon,
When friends arrive,
Purses, more keys.
Alone in the dining room,
I find myself at peace
Surrounded by knick-knacks
And large hunks of furniture,
The mineral essences of passing time.
Soon, cups of coffee with milk and sugar
And chain smoking on the roof.
Rising,
I walk to our bathroom,
Put my trusted gray pants around my ankles
And sit,
Mesmerized for the millionth time
By the unshakeable animal urge.
Eyes closed, I push.
The bathroom shrinks, the world shrinks,
The sound of passing cars outside is a delicate harp.
It has been long since I was a child.
Of genuine moments, smiles.
The hats we used to wear!
My roommate
(old chum from the war days)
Strikes various poses,
Baring teeth gratuitously
Across our shelves.
A basket, with apples, centered on the second-hand
Table with the long green cloth.
The laptop computer, closed, the size of a cigar box.
And things with no use:
The steamer trunk sidling a wall,
A weekly coupon-clipper
Brought by the prissy mail-lady
Tossed aside, quaintly forgotten.
Pale blue shopping bags
Like tumbleweeds,
Strewn.
That clear plastic container of toothpicks.
A shrunken hall table holding keys,
My wallet,
Old notes to each other,
And soon,
When friends arrive,
Purses, more keys.
Alone in the dining room,
I find myself at peace
Surrounded by knick-knacks
And large hunks of furniture,
The mineral essences of passing time.
Soon, cups of coffee with milk and sugar
And chain smoking on the roof.
Rising,
I walk to our bathroom,
Put my trusted gray pants around my ankles
And sit,
Mesmerized for the millionth time
By the unshakeable animal urge.
Eyes closed, I push.
The bathroom shrinks, the world shrinks,
The sound of passing cars outside is a delicate harp.
It has been long since I was a child.
.........................................................................
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