The Haunting

how are you
he said,
worming forward 
from the foot of your bed

to where he could
see you better, him being
almost blind from years
underneath 

the corner dresser
in the dust where 
you’d forgotten him
that time when he fell

off the bed and rolled
under there and now
somehow he’s back
as familiar and needy as ever

but you aren’t having any
and when he gets close enough
you toss the covers
and off he flies again

into the corner
where he has lived
although you thought
he’d gone away years ago

and now you see he’s not
so what does that mean about you
that he’s back haunting you
getting this close to the new you

you’ve worked so hard to create
how are you, he said blindly
as if he couldn’t see how different
you are now

proof of that being
how quickly you fall back to sleep
and how little he shows up
in subsequent dreams

but in the morning
you move the dresser
sweep underneath it
and everything else in the room

leaving the curtains and blinds
flung wide and the windows open
for hours in an exorcism
that’s worked before and you hope

will work again because
this is what you deserve
a night free of his voice
and a home as fresh as a good wind