Time On A Small Couch
The lobby air is lemon candy and womb sounds I carry my friend’s
body to the door I ask for a single mustard seed The man has a jarful
but shows me an urn of his wife’s ashes This time I come with a
rotting tooth I am the rotten tooth in the mouth of every room Stop,
he says She is called sixteen She is aching at the root The rot is in
her floor joists, see? His beam finds a borer’s loopy tunnel The pests
have long gone, he says The damage is not structural I didn’t know we
were talking about buildings We aren’t— Come, hold sixteen with me
Now he stands at the counter in a paper hat Bloody prints streak across
his white apron He points with a blade These two parts we can eat
The love heart and the animal’s death The rest is for the birds But
officer, there is a man sleeping in my bed Yes, he is for you And the
children, too? Yes, and they belong to no one Love carefully Next is
the cave of spring He meets me with a headlamp and water I thought I
was alone down here Yes, you thought Thought is as logical as dreamt
Any dream can slip between the mind cage bars So be a child at the zoo
Admire these creatures Do not bring them home Some species are
unfit to breed Some leave behind only skeletons I hear bones and know
I like this frame best I point to a sample on the wall He cuts four pieces
to length, miters the corners I breathe deeply Here is the warm resin
scent of my father’s woodshop We press the original under archival glass
and step backwards See how it is a mirror See it hanging in the lobby
beside a faded Gorky poster You can cry The window holds a citrine
sun (Reader, it is not so simple as all this In real life, he sits kindly with
tea and crossed ankles He says odd things like, Take a walk through an
old growth forest Find the fallen trees See for yourself whether they
are truly dead And I return to the door carrying my friend’s moss)
Lauren Endicott is a long-time writer and a fervent lover of poetry and the arts. They are currently pursuing a masters degree in social work in the Boston area where they live with their spouse, two children, and adoring cat.