Bare white walls aside from a silver crucifix,
A mirror without frames, and a window
missing curtains
I sit up
on my bed,
palms
fickle, lay
down
Pencils Sharpened, wrapped in rubber bands
Instruction manuals to every appliance I
own stacked in a plastic crate
Toothpaste bottle squeezed from the bottom of the tube
folded neatly, jar of cotton balls,
tissues, bottle of
aspirin, tissues,
toilet seat down,
tissues, spoon
from
Nebraska
An old brown blanket that attracts the shedding lint
of my own white socks, folded, tucked neatly
in a mattress
plastic comb
through short fine
Yellow
No, Gray-Yellow
Hair
Watery ketchup bottle, stacks of
American cheese, pear, pitcher of tomato
juice in refrigerator
Scissors, crumbs of bran muffin, deck of cards, print of
Saint Anthony on my counter top
Smell of shoe polish,
time, I’ll be late
I’ll be careful,
time, to lock
every
door on my--
Say what you
will about me
But
at least I
can
handle
a minute,
a second,
on
my
own.