You were not allowed
up here—that hole
in the carpet couldn’t be
a careless discard

of one of you. A pizza
delivery man exits an elevator
to one of those office towers—can I

smell it? Oregano,
tobacco, the cigarette
that man outside on the corner
was smoking was too sweet

smelling to be
one of you. Old lovers
who were never really friends. A convenience

store becomes like a liquor
depot—no further purpose.
And I can go anywhere now.