The Art of Tetman Callis

i thought it was because they were poor that they didn’t have
sliding glass doors in vietnam during the war

my father walked right into ours after he came back

knocked his glasses off
left a smudge

he said he wasn’t used to sliding glass doors

the dog had run into the door, too
once, in a hurry, before my father came back
left a dog-nose smudge lower down

my mother kept everything very clean
all smudges were soon gone

that door was clean to nonexistence
clean enough to eat off, in a weightless world

(Copyright 2023 by Tetman Callis.)