In the Room
He slipped two fingers
between the slats
of the Venetian blinds
and let a wan slice
of autumn light
into the room*
She poked two fingers
through the screen
on the bedroom window
and let a quarter pound
of mosquitoes
into the room
He tore six inches
of wallpaper
from the hall closet
thereby releasing
a puff of air
two decades old
into the room
She raised her skirt
and curtsied
to the old refrigerator
whose sudden heat
swung open its porcelain door
letting gleeful vegetables tumble
into the room
* The first stanza is lifted from Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (New York: Picador, 2000), p.225.
