moving day

for once
I may sleep the sleep
of the righteous. I
got up at nine in
the morning and worked
at something all day.
though truth be told
my labor was mostly
in the financial backing
and oversight capacities
than in the physical realm. I only
carried two boxes. but
several hours leaning
over a sink did
take their toll.

I also relied on the
kindness of strange men
whom I was paying –
Eddie the Albanian
Mover Guy is now
in my phone, and
I must not tell
his boss that he let me
use his truck
when I was worried
about returning mine
on time, and even though
he charged me like
three hundo extra,
he used it to tip
his men so I cannot
begrudge him. and Victor
at Storage Fox
was very nice and ticked
a magic box that
said I turned the truck
in on time even though
in reality I was 25
minutes late.

now I see my honey sleeps
with his left hand curled
into a fist. who does he
want to punch? is it the jerk
from Craigslist, that smug arrogant
bastard who wasn’t even
prepared to move
the large Ikea closet
he was getting for free?
who asked me to watch
over his granny cart with
free rollerblades in it while
he towed away his undeserved
closet booty and when
I happened to be outside
smoking again when
he came back like three
hours later and nobody
had stolen it, thought I
did him a favor when in fact
we all gladly left it
unattended while we went about
the business of moving?
or was it Albanian Eddie, or
Storage Fox Victor,
or the guy at the gas station
who pumped my gas?

it’s not like I flirted
with any of them. I did
admire Victor’s truck-parking wizardry
but more because I wanted to stay
on his good side so he
would be sure to tick
the magic box when his
manager told me
over the phone
that if I didn’t get there
by 2:45 they had absolutely
no choice but to charge me
for a whole extra day. and I
made sure to mention
the existence of my
boyfriend just in case
he was getting any
ideas.

good night, darling.
sleep tight. your work
is not done but tomorrow
beckons, and we survived
moving day.