Renters
by
Robin Wright
Robin Wright
Robin Wright has had poems published in a virtual gallery at the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana and in several literary journals. Most recently, two of her poems were selected for publication in the University of Southern Indiana’s 50th anniversary anthology, Time Present, Time Past. She has also co-written two novels with Maryanne Burkhard under the name B. W. Wrighthard, Ghost Orchid and A Needle and a Haystack.
We’re young, newly married,
and when the landlord hands us the key
to our first apartment, we’re transported
into the car of a Disneyland ride,
the thrill rising to meet us
as we descend down the rail.
The baby in my womb is just a flutter now,
but we envision him swinging and flipping
on the jungle gym nearby.
Our thoughts carousel as we open the door
then freeze like wooden horses.
The apartment doesn’t look like
the model. Bare floors, vacant windows,
curtain rods left hanging
by loose screws. A paper cup and bag
abandoned in the corner.
We promise each other we’ll cover
floors, toss sheets over windows,
throw away the residue of another life,
and care for this baby
when he falls head first into birth.
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