July 2022

July 2022

The girl goes out in the morning, a tumble through the bathroom and out the door.

And I have the morning and I have the light and I have the stairs, the dust, the screenkept moths, the laundry, the dishes, the food composting in the fridge. I have all to myself. I have the boxes and the things inside them. I have the sneak snaking up around the water heater. The skin he leaves behind. I have the empty pages and full books. I have it all and I’m not sharing. I have it all and no one to read to.

I should be read to.

I have grain in the floorboards. I have notes in the desk drawer. I have music. I have music until she drives around the corner and takes it with her. Then I have open windows, the birds. I have a concert.

I have abundance. I have too much. Too much is not the same as having always enough.

I have a girl who comes home bramble scratched, skirt full of berries.

But I have a girl. And she comes home.

the apple house