Today’s mail is stacked neatly,
three small piles (bills, yours, mine)
on the kitchen table. Those rotting
tupperware containers are gone, and the
egg tray is freshly washed. Last night
I scrubbed the tub on hands and knees,
and tomorrow I will attack the moldy
shower curtain. Perhaps, by Tuesday,
I will have erased every trace of your
presence, and can work quietly at a
(dusted) computer…listening for your
muddy footsteps in the hall.
*****
M.A. Mohanraj
June 19, 1996