Today's Liberal News

Mairead Small Staid

Rauschenberg & Johns

You clear your throat & spit into the sink.  
Downstairs, a frothing fills my canvas  
like the sea. A need once met  
& met again. The fleetingness of meeting
given way. Each day, the paper on the stoop
ripe for the taking, for the making into something
better than the news. On the record player,  
something bluesy, not too sweet. On the hot plate,  
eggs. We’ve got one fridge between us. One decent suit.  
One roof.