*

*
- 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.