Notes for Moving Day, by Nathan E. White

Our hands once
upon the walls,
we could imagine
the hidden prints

of carpenters,
swirling fossils
pressed by the hour.
These rooms,

still suspect
of having registered
the difficult syntax
of acquisition

and being as one.
From what design—
this offer of tenancy
to the relics

of our pleasure?
Body, remember
as we go, each room
emptied of us.

Nathan E. White is a writer and musician living in the Los Angeles area. He holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from New York University. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in such publications as the Tulane Review, Bellingham Review, South Dakota Review, Magma (U.K.), and Redactions: Poetry & Poetics.

© 2011, Nathan E. White