First poem of 2024. Happy New Year to all writers and lovers of words.
It came with the furnished apartment:
1980’s futon with heavy, creaking lumber
In frame.
Slick, black mattress hidden beneath my
Iridescent orange tapestry.
Pillows and blankets
In random jewel tones
Rebel against tidiness:
Hither, a textured purple mass of a bolster.
Yon, a flush of scarlet fever across a corduroy cushion.
Sleeping black cat disappears
Between folds of midnight blue blanket.
My legs wrapped like burrito filling
In off-white quilt.
800-page novel open atop thighs.
Page after page turned
As tepid sunset gives way to winter night
Old heater kicks on
Blasts hot air and noise.
Arise to stretch, refill drink.
Return to my snuggery.
Alone
Warm
Evening passes
In time-slowing
Bliss.