Small Rooms with Too Many Occupants
A long time ago
we found ourselves
at this very place:
sitting in a small room,
staring out the window,
watching the sun go down.
That’s when the men
walked right in.
They walked in and said,
“We will help you
if you let us move into
your small room."
We said, "We are not very lonely."
But they pushed
and they pushed
and our hearts
weren’t in the fight.
(We knew it was not right.)
So we sat there, stone quiet,
while the men brought in chairs
and sat at the table
and looked out the window
to watch the sun go down.
It was much less than wonderful.
Then they began taking pictures
of us. They said, "We’re going to take
photos of you. We won’t let
things get out of control.”
They told us next
that they loved us and
that we should love them \
- unconditionally -
and that they will never leave us alone.
They looked at us
with predatory admiration
so we repeated:
“We are not very alone.
We are not very alone.”
They told us they would bring
a whole new level of joy
but they didn’t even bring
spare towels and expected us
to do all the extra laundry.