THERE WAS THIS RAT-HAVEN I LIVED IN, CALLED
A cold-water flat. No closet of any kind
not a shelf but in the kitchen. You took
Your own roll of ass-wipe to the hall-way
john—which had a lock on the door but several
Keys. No disposal in there for a kotex. My girl
was a modest girl. She wouldn’t take a douche
In the bathtub in the kitchen. You can turn
out the light, I said, ir you’re afraid watch
Oh no. she said, you know I trust you. But
there is no way you could keep from hearing
It ell. She kept that little diddy-kit there
on the shelf with the coffee and sugar and salt
And pepper—and everything else that didn’t
go to the fridge, or in the oven.
Poem taken from Planet Detroit, Spring 1985, edited by Kurt Nimmo.