*

*

1. In the store:

“Oh, yes,” said the manager,

“we’ll take the old bed away.

Just tip the guys twenty dollars each.

That’s what they usually get.”

*

“What will you do with the bed?”

*

“If it’s in good shape,

we put it on Craigslist.

We leave it out back.

People pick it up.

And if not,

they take it apart

and recycle what they can.

*

“It’s a good bed.”

*

• Advertisement:

Free: king size bed

Includes mattress and frame

Must go by Sunday

Email:

I want this bed! Please!

Phone call:

I have ms.  I’ve been sleeping

on a mattress on the floor.

My dad is coming this weekend.

My son and my dad can get it.

*

Do you still want the bed?

*

No reply. She’s dissolved.

*

Email:

Please send photo,

phone number.

I send a photo.

He calls.

We have a great conversation.

He calls back.

His wife doesn’t want it.

*

• Delivery:

Two jolly movers

heave the king size mattress

over the balcony.

*

“The manager said—”

*

“Nah, it’ll go to the dump.”

*

“But he said—”

*

“Uh-uh, the dump.”

They load the good mattress

into the van

I picture it tossed onto

black bags of garbage.

Maybe they’ll keep

the box spring and frame.

Maybe.

*

It was a good bed.

It should have been passed on.

I now carry it on my back

along with all the other

plastic and garbage

I’ve discarded.