At the door, you dragged your boots,
Covered your tracks,
Sighs wavered in the hall,
Smearing the sweat, adjusting the thermostat.
You didn't hear me breathing between the paper and the walls.
Scarlet roses screaming, eyelids fluttering in cahoots.

You set the hat down on the counter,
Hoping I’d be there to hang it, brush the fur,
pound potatoes into your dinner,
Sending my pulse soaring with the birds.

The nights spent rancid and dank,
Lonely and dim, the moon offering a borrowed grin,
Playing craps with its teeth across wooden planks,
Where the ribs crack carelessly

Around smoke, sending
Ella’s voice to haunt the air,
Creating the vices that drag you by your toenails,
Floating through the dust that settles around your hair.
The bath tub beckoning in drips for you to visit the holy grail,
Clean the soul, praying in fire that marriage accepts amends.