Our Attic Apartment

by Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt

Because the sides of this house are inclined,
stucco and angled to gables, we find

an acute lack of space. We tend to place
beds, records, books & harsh looks at close range,

in cornices that furnish short order.
We push our pans into shallow cupboards;

our bathroom towels hang low, while we walk
tenuously with our heads down. The stark

lack of mirrors and pictures cleans the site
itself: the parlor, free of all but white,

sloping walls that keep quickened steps deterred;
the master bedroom that would echo were

this an upright room, the close ceiling.

The silence. The alabaster feeling.