waiting II
With apologies to "Locks" by Charles Bukowski.
while I was waiting for you
to come home
I began to wash your blood from the sheets.
it didn't work
so I went to the store for bleach.
I bought bleach and drāno and deodorant
and I paid and I came home.
I set the timer on the microwave to thirty.
I poured the drāno in the bathtub.
I poured the bleach on the bed.
I waited.
I scrubbed your blood from the sheets.
when the timer rang
I ran the hot water in the bathtub.
I put the deodorant by the sink
and continued to scrub.
when I finished
I went to the painting on the kitchen table
and turned it over.
I carefully painted my name on the back
in red.
I waited some more.
I ran more hot water in the bathtub.
I continued to scrub the sheets.
when I got bored, I went down to the car
and drove to the store.
I got six new brushes
a tube of silver
and a tube of white.
I asked the girl in the red vest,
"do you carry this fixative or this varnish?"
she said, "yes, we have two of them in one,"
so I said, "that's not what I need."
she took me to the fine arts section
and I found everything I wanted.
I bought a bear
I paid, left, and drove home.
by the time I got back
your blood was gone and the painting was dry
so I sat down and waited for you to return.
this really happened.