Red Recliner

by James Babbs

on my way to the bookstore
while driving through the country
I saw a red recliner
near the side of the road
someone had thrown into the ditch
and it stood there
upright
like it was waiting
for someone to come along
and sit down in it
it looked in pretty good shape
I didn’t see any holes in it
I had no idea
how long it had been there
I thought
maybe
there was a story attached to it
you know
something really interesting
involving drugs and money
and somebody got murdered
or maybe
it was just a chair
someone threw out
I guess I’ll never know