Robert Okaji

The Song of Exits

In this house of many doors,
no music passes between its walls.
Listen. A dog pants. The woman sips tea.
You think you hear a creak,
but nothing slips through
and every twitching second
sandpapers your closed eyes.
Strings and woodwinds.
The snare's brush.
You share no guilt
but wait for that entrance, straining.
Only the light escapes.

Robert Okaji is a Texan living in Indiana. He once worked in a library. The author of multiple chapbooks, his poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Great Lakes Review, Threepenny Review, Book of Matches, The Night Heron Barks, Vox Populi and elsewhere.