In Privacy
by Laurence Overmire

The secrets live behind the door
Faint whisperings back and forth
Incomprehensible, except for
The few choice words hurled through the walls
Like daggers-
"Dammit." "Go to hell." "Divorce."

She crawls into the wayback
In the basement, under the floor
There's quiet.
A clutter of junk, out of mind things
A broken sled, books never read
Boxes of lost memories.

She pores through stacks of photographs
Covered with dust, corners cracked
People posed in funny hats, strange clothes
Old cars on country roads
Wonders
What world is this-in every shot
Mother, Father
Smiling.

Laurence Overmire is an actor/director/writer who has worked on stage, film and television. His poetry, eclectic in form and often provocative in its direct confrontation of social issues, has been widely published in the U.S. and abroad, including "American Muse," "Kimera," "Main Street Rag Poetry Journal," "Red Coral," "Lynx: Poetry from Bath," "Poetry DownUnder," "Cotyledon," "Thunder Sandwich," "Samsara Quarterly," "Jack Magazine," "Stirring," "Free Zone Quarterly," "Pogonip," "Kookamonga Square" and many others.