Landlord

I live alone
with the temporary tenants of a winter wind
I watch them come and go like the
vacant thoughts I don’t like to think about
sometimes I’m sitting in a piano room at night with the lights dimmed
but then I remember I never learned how to play.

It feels like that a lot.
Or if I walk by a cafe at midnight, a soft
cascade of candles guiding me inside
customers unrecognizable but warm
my face drenched with the rain or tears –
I’m never quite sure
but the second I look a second too late,
it’s not right anymore.
So I keep walking.
I walk with my vacant thoughts I don’t like thinking about
dragging my left foot
thinking about those temporary tenants when
yesterday I saw someone who looked like you
down at the market
I know it’s not you, because you’re not here
but if it was, it’d be you

I’m sure.

I live alone

I live alone, the landlord of my heart.