Take it down
to the bone, the real of it:

paint peeling
on a wood frame house,
revealing the grain,

cracks in windowsills
and door jambs, letting in
the steel-chrome cold,

the space-heater’s
blue flames, small islands
of heat in each room,

spent cigarette smoke
and cologne, the left
aromas of last night’s supper,

the daily litany of
what went wrong with the car
and how to fix it,

the plots and tangles
of marriage, the bed
angled toward the window.

Something you can put
your hand on, something
that can change.

Carolyn Adams’ poetry and art have appeared in Beatnik Cowboy, Willawaw Journal, The Alembic, Hawaii Pacific Review, and Common Ground Review, among others. She has been nominated for a Pushcart prize, as well as for Best of the Net, and was a finalist for 2013 Poet Laureate of the city of Houston, TX. She is currently a staff editor for Mojave River Review. Having relocated from Houston, she now lives in Beaverton, OR.