The Guest
l’ll never know who he was,
the man that just sat there
his face pressed into the head rest,
his beard a black avalanche.
He sat there in the way
piles of gravel do, delivered
to the beginning of a drive,
one ear folded like a landscape
Christmas card, one eye
a red foil bauble
dented from storage.
He sat in the glow of the lights
and we prodded him
with the fire poker, tickled
his nose with a strip
of gold tinsel. Nothing.
In the kitchen, cold meats, pickles.
Upstairs, choices to be made.
Paul Stephenson