The Sanctuary

image by glenn buttkus

The Sanctuary

“Each of us has an inner room, a sanctuary where

we can visit to be inspired.”--Glenn Buttkus

It was an old bachelor’s apartment

      with liver, onions & fish still prevalent odors

adhered to the paisley floral wallpaper,

      with cigarette burns & tattered rips

freckling the 50’s turquoise carpet,

      with what might have been blood stains

under the narrow single bed,

      with very tall ceilings that were pock-marked

      with greasy popcorn plaster bumps,

an asbestos-ridden affect from the past, rife in

every dirty cluster,

       with ornate steel steam radiators against

two of the walls, dark blanched spots behind them,

        with a small kitchen that had several cupboards 

too high to reach without standing on a chair,

        with a squat noisy refrigerator that had a deeply

dented door & bent rusty shelves,

        with a cracked porcelain sink that had dark

mysterious stains & no plug,

         with a large bathroom, resplendent

         with an ancient lion-legged bath tub, and a 

six foot tall narrow vertical window

         with smoked glass to provide privacy.

From the alley outside, one could see the cheery

wrought iron barred gate that covered that window,

as if there were valuables or treasure inside, and 

the red ladder for the fire escape, within easy reach

if egress was ever a necessity.

The price was right--this

apartment would suffice as

a writer’s sweet den.    

Glenn Buttkus

Posted over at dVerse Poets Pub