Ernesto Trejo

TONIGHT THIS HOUSE SPEAKS

.

Tonight this house speaks to me

through the creaking in the cupboards

and the refrigerator's humming.

Believe me, when this house shakes

under my feet

it isn't because of the train.

There's something in the basement.

I don't know what, I've never been there,

I'm afraid of the empty room

that leads to it.

.

Tonight I'm a hearing machine.

Beer bottles are crashing

in the dusty corners.

Even the spiders

are hesitant.

The crack in the ceiling

is a fissure in the brain

for all I know,

this kidney ache might be a sign

of rusty pipes, the cricket's

clicking has been the song

of my ventricles

all these years.

.

Thank God the water goes on at 2.

Then I sleep

while the plum tree drinks on,

a water full of sounds.