Member-only story
Waiting
gray stain as a global treatment
something like nominal maintenance
although certainly effective, at that
this old house is just hanging out
waiting for the opportunity
to be in intimate relationship
with people once again
not just the occasional visit
to make sure the roof’s not leaking
and mice haven’t gnawed through wires
but the sort of relationship that brings warmth
and laughter, even sadness — the whole emotional range
that people inevitably move through over time
in the presence of such an invisible entity
as a house, which makes available
the space that becomes a home
in which people live and even rely
on the walls and roof and foundation
that hold them, and keep them
dry, warm, cool, and in which
they make their food, their beds
their memories, their lives
what stories a house
holds over time
so patient
