The House Where It Happened (Part One)

Front steps cracked

Nameplate gone

Key still warm

Door swings on its own

Hallway breathes

Wallpaper curls

Every picture frame

Turned flat to the wall

This is the house where it happened

All of the shouting still stuck in the air

Every nail in the floorboard remembers

They all know

They all know

This is the house where it happened

Cupboards and corners that still will not speak

I walk room to room like I'm searching

For something that should never be seen

Red tape line

Ghost of a chair

Coffee ring stain

Nobody there

One shoe left

By the back porch rail

Whole life paused

Mid-exhale

This is the house where it happened

All of the shouting still stuck in the air

Every nail in the floorboard remembers

They all know

They all know

This is the house where it happened

Cupboards and corners that still will not speak

I walk room to room like I'm searching

For something that should never be seen