William Aarnes

The Absolute not something
she believes in

but still hopes for Saturday mornings
when she goes online

to find the flawless house plan,
one without a three-car garage

but with a roomy foyer,
one with a screened porch in back

and a study with a fireplace,
one with a master bedroom

that doesn’t have gendered closets,
a place she can’t imagine affording

but one with a hallway long enough
that it can serve as a gallery,

one with the kitchen counters
and island so arranged

that it’s an absolute impossibility
for one spouse to wound the other.

 

William Aarnes teaches at Furman Universtiy and lives in Clemson, South Carolina, Childwold, New York, and Manhattan. He has published two collections, Learning to Dance (1991) and Predicaments (2001), both with Ninety-Six Press. Recent work has appeared in Tendril and FIELD.