Imagine where you cannot be.
Enter the room, locate the seating
prefer the 90” sofa with 30” bench
so the shadows of your feet camou-
flage the floor
Lounge near the right arm so the
dominant side of your body is
safe unexposed enjoy this room
this easy space you make
the only sound you control this noise
you push and suck air through your teeth
as your grandmother
hum as she did when she watered her ferns
space so untouched
it’s green you asked
no one
permission to be here
you said
I belong here then did what you did
Copyright © 2025 by CM Burroughs. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on July 18, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.
