Room for Rent
- Room for Rent
Carpeted, the room is small, smaller than nothing. Up on cinder blocks, the twin bed juts out like a sore thumb, hardly leaving any space for the desk and chair.
But the silence is misleading. Kept alive by a yellow tack, Madonna rocks on the far wall, next to the map of the world. In its center, a spider devours its succulent prey.
Not far from here, where Grant meets Pier, the sparkling canal carries dead bodies out to sea. You can choose to look the other way. The rent is due on the first.
Are you religious? We have a brand-new church, but many prefer the tavern. I promise not to intrude— you can set the boxes down. Starting over is about the walls staring at each other. [End Page 648]
Can you hear the sun slicing the loaves of clouds? The ellipsis of scratches and dings means love and grief are following you here, are following each other. [End Page 649]
Piotr Florczyk is a poet, essayist, and translator from his native Polish. His most recent book is a volume of translations of Polish poetry, Froth: Poems by Jarosław Mikołajewski.
