For Rent

court order 
signed
sealed
delivered
I'm no longer yours
eviction notice served
uniformed personnel came
removed your belongings from the premises
locks were changed to protect

me 

the innocent

from you

to bar you from ever entering again
your key
will never again gain entrance to this 
domicile
as they call it
spent the weekend doing nothing but 
scrubbing
resting
scrubbing
resting
rinse
repeat 
so by Monday morning
traces of you would be remembered only
as the past week's trash to be put out on the curb

looked at my copy of the
eviction notice
officially should have been a
ctrl/alt/delete 
situation
a factory reset
emerging from the shadows a
blank hard drive
ready for a new operating system
or
just a simple highlight of the text
which was you
delete button pressed
and you
instantly disappearing into cyberspace
or 
wherever deleted stuff goes
and a fresh 
blank line
ready to record the new stuff

but
you have a key
entered the threshold of my dreams
time and time again
a thumb drive filled with moments I want to forget
Al Green singing
For The Good Times
in the background
as I tossed
turned
dreamed dreams of you
coming and going
willy nilly
as they say
and the copy of the eviction notice
neatly folded up in an envelope in the dresser
powerless against the dreams I had of you
and mornings
the afternoons
the evenings
I tossed and turned
but the door remained open
and you entered
and 
I entered

so many times
awakening
calling your name against my will
and better judgement
asking
how your remembered the combination
to unlock me