Roommates

It’s really not the poltergeist I mind-
it intriguing to see one’s energy
bouncing like ball lightning from wall to wall
in an encapsulate cubiculum of space.
Analytically, it’s entertaining,
after all the debunking, EEG,
and other skeptic quests are satisfied
and you master the not-looking-looking.

I see what I see; it’s easy for me-
it takes no more thought than it does to blink.
It’s never been another way, although
no two people ever see the same thing.
A faceted phenomenon, for sure.
The knocks and moving things amuses me
it’s never frightening as a general rule
but something’s not quite right about the black
shadow thing, human- like and spherical
as a buzz-cut little brother skulking
along the hall outside the bathroom door.

Friday nights, I’m always home alone-
the guys go out. I’m more of a house mouse
and it’s so nice to control the remote,
push the “off” button and crank up the tunes
-in the living room instead of my box-
and dance like no one’s watching, sing out loud.
Last week, indulging thusly to The Kinks
in my underwear, eating Elios
like any normal mom would do, it came,
for the first time outside my little space
into the triangled great room of our A frame.

The dog barked once, then sat outside all night
in the driveway. The cats don’t seem to care-
even in my room, when the Others flit
like moths and make the furniture expand
and pop as if the heat was on too high,
the most they do is cast a haughty glance
indifferently, then curl back into sleep.

But I, on the other hand, don’t like it
when, assuming I'm alone, I relax
my usual degree of vigilance
only to suddenly realize I’m not-
that, actually, I’m being watched, laughed at
by the dark slash of a grin- I feel it-
scalding sarcasm coming from the walls
that sometimes manifests enough to see,
and once or twice, has so unnerved me,
I loaded two fat, red shells, cocked and leaned
the double-barrel within reach -senseless-
as if a gun could save you from a ghost.

It’s startling, its quick proximity,
disruptive, pushy, like it owns the place.
I wonder how it made it past the salt.