The Silent House
by Johnson Cheu


_____We did not hear, beneath our lives,
_____The old walls falling out of true,
_____Foundations shifting in the dark.
____________________- Mary Oliver


The living room,
plastic-covered couches pristine
as the dusted porcelain figurines.
Rockwell's Freedom from Fear
portrays parents tucking in sweet dears.


The kitchen,
stocked. Simmering
pots, pans gleam,
their sheen diverts the eye
from marks of misuse.


The bathroom,
bleached. The polished brass
faucet leaks. Puddles collect
around the clogged drain
depositing small stains.


The bedroom,
the bed made, hospital corners.
The closet filled with silk bribes
to pacify. At night,
only the television is turned on.


Here is the house,
constructed on fault
lines. Daily, the silence
builds, as others anticipate
a crack in the frame.






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