They Were In The Attic

They were in the attic.

She was a

Nasty little woman.

And so was her husband

Who fancied himself an ogre

As well as an ex-marine.

He was actually a timid fellow

Unpleasant, unhappy

And unsure

Of his ignorance.

She rode hard on him

With her wispy waist band,

Crooked fingers

And curving spine.

Her teeth bit

And tried to bite me:

Try as she could

She tried to bite me.

Some sympathetic fools

Would have concurred that

They were getting

Screwed.

And they were getting screwed by me

For I saw no reason

To restrain myself

Around

Their contemptuous following,

Naughty listening, and evil pilfering

They engaged assuredly presuming that

I did not know it.

I pretended when they lied

I set down empty boxes beside

Whole cabinets of ancient manuscripts

And dump them into those boxes.

She said “I THREW that OUT”

But is was on the rear floor of her car.

She said “It is just so much rubbish”

But folded it up carefully.

“Her money” she said

“Had more meaning

When she counted it

Herself”.

Isn’t that an odd verbalization;

Outright and out of the blue,

When I came up from the basement

Carrying a basket full of old ceramic planters?

She clutched a pink depression glass

Cake plate

That she shook back and forth at me

When she said that.

Was she trying to taunt me?

They had been in the house

For ten hours

After I’d made my offer she said.

I could easily follow how

They had gone through everything

And taken what they wanted

And thought that I would not notice.

Missing things from cupboards, boxes

Shelves, trunks and table tops that

Lead like a pair of footprints

In the snow

To her shaking back and forth

Peripheral voyeurisms

And her husband’s commandeering utterances

Supposed to be obeyed or intimidate me

And slacken what was very obvious to me;

An out right effort to throw me out

Of the home in an effort to garner

It all themselves.

Foolish little toys

They were in the attic

When they took it upon themselves

To carry it all down.

I delighted to tell him that it

Wasn’t what I wanted

Over and over even though

He kept asking “Didn’t I want”

Those two chairs

Up there

That were obviously old.

“No” and he can carry those down too.

And he did.