Today I’ll be cleaning my apartment
     and emptying my fridge
          and doing the last of the dishes that have piled up
          over the course of what has turned out to be a very long year

And tonight we’ll go get dinner 
     at the place off the side of the highway
     with the billboard that only says “RESTAURANT”
          and then I’ll drop her off back home

And tomorrow I’ll be headed home for Christmas
     driving six hours straight by myself
          and walking into a place where the fridge is never empty
          and the dishwasher actually works

But I’m gonna come back in January
     and my apartment will still get dirty
          and dishes will still pile up
               but she won’t be here anymore
               and she might never be again

 

 


Title taken from Kurt Halsey's Poetry of a Sinking Ship