Keeping House

In years of renting out rooms
the tenants took over. They
controlled counters, cabinets
refrigerator shelves. Voices
and footsteps filled the air,
their friends lolled on sofas,
kitchen chairs; their showers
left hers tepid.

Living in that foreign land, she
merely withdrew. It was easier
to make herself scarce: retreat
upstairs, eat in her room, slip
through the front door without
notice. They often thought
she’d gone away.