Mireille Kalfayan: I rearrange my closet tonight

Click to hear the audio segment I rearrange my closet tonight read by Lola Koundakjian.

I put together the old linens
sewn in laces
by my grandmother,
fifteen years old in Turkey,
and my new linens
bought at Strouds
on one shelf, side by side,
the old and the new,
the plain and the dainty.

Where shall I sleep tonight?
My grandmother is dead
and so is the art
that personalized every item in bed.

There is a man in my bed
he is not my grandfather
my grandfather is dead
he did not love my grandmother
but he loved her laces.

My linens are from Strouds
and the man in my bed
takes my love for granted.

Mireille Kalfayan (1950-2005)

This poem has appeared in ASPORA, Volume 1, Number 1, Fall 1993.