Bob’s Apartment After Hours
by Patricia Grove
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The fireplace with its day old ashes seeks forgiveness
the bookcase sags with old books
they yearn for a well-lit library
the Egyptian rug aspires to a higher purpose
________expensive rental property with Italian marble perhaps
now its frayed edges are chewed
by mice who know that goods are scarce
in the corner there is an antique lamp with clawed feet
it flickers intermittently
______on off____on off
______it thinks___it might___be God
the cockroaches copulate like crazy
and plant their eggs between the pages of the forgotten books
they prefer Shakespeare to Hemingway
they have plans for world domination
the easy chair is decidedly uneasy
it knows the lamp is on the verge
and feels helpless in the face of a cockroach coup
the overstuffed sofa belches out its insides
which lay on the floor like leftover oatmeal
the mice go for it
_____thinking it manna from heaven
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