In Their Own Words

I do not want to stay

I do not want to stay
Or say
Anymore.

The birds fog in
Like Tyvek flapping
From scaffolds.

The bare spring trees,
I peel the label off

Carefully, carefully

Take a tranquilizer
The landscape regains dimension.

The men in their demolished
Sheetrock rooms.

On "I do not want to stay"
 

At the time that I was writing "I do not want to stay" I was in the midst of a relationship ending and leaving New York City. I was staying in my former apartment, empty of all furniture, until the lease ran out . The building I was living in was being renovated, and certainly my apartment was next. The language and the imagery are intended to reflect both of those facts simultaneously (as much as possible)--what it is like to sit amidst destruction, physical and emotional.