2 46 am

a poltergeist woman

moves chairs in your apartment

rocks a crib

puts on a kettle

cleans up crumbs

with featherweight touches she

adjusts your bed

barely there presence

always ready to shrink into the darkness

in movies poltergeists

cast bruises and rip skin

unapologetic hectic wicked

evil

impossible to ignore

impossible to hurt

but only in movies

a poltergeist woman

a mournful face in the corner of your family picture

somewhere between the smiling husband and someone's aunt

you don't see her

until you look very carefully

a poltergeist woman

a police report or a gravestone

bloodied little mouth

sewn with marital duty and fear

her life was

a thunderstorm so quiet

no one noticed it