the guest room

you can sleep
in the guest room.
the one down
the hall, we used
to call it the
yellow room when
the previous
tenant lived here.
let's fool
around in
the yellow room
tonight, she'd
say and light
a candle on
the dresser. i can
still see the
glimmer of her
small blue plates
hung on the wall,
delicate in
their balance
their measured
place. the plates
are down now, but
you can still sleep
in there. it's
hardly haunted.
hardly at all.