New Place

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NEW PLACE

That first week we noticed 

every creak, like okay, this

is the part where it all falls 

apart and we leave here less

one home. After an evening rain 

I walked the backyard barefoot, assessing 

each puddle to determine

if it was evidence of pooling 

which, given time, would undermine

the structural integrity of what we had. 


It didn’t last long, such sharp

attunement. Soon the edges dulled

and we were once again duped

by habit into thinking we knew 

this place as well as any 

other we’d inhabited: the lent one 

with the slow accumulation 

of aches, the one we committed to construct

together, forever, even the ancient one

we inherited as infants,

our grandfathers sprinkling 

our heads like a first evening rain. 


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