Moving to a Bigger Place

By Richard LeDue

Our empty bedroom french kissed
silence, while I took one last walk 
around our apartment, where we
struggled with becoming adults,  
figuring out dead parents  
don't do it, over four thousand kilometers away
from where we grew up doesn't do it either,  but
unopened bank statements 
(because we had it all online anyway), a
hole in the wall from a satellite wire,
finding that our long distance phone
plan wasn't the best, 
worrying about pap smears, blood work 
that came back okay, 
a positive pregnancy test definitely does it,
and my unsaid goodbye to those walls
echoed like someone hollering at a mountain
just to hear their own voice 
answer back, not thinking about an a
valanche until years later, when I realized 
how lucky we are.

Richard LeDue (he/him) lives in Norway House, Manitoba, Canada. He has been published both online and in print. He is the author of seven books of poetry. His latest book, “Everyday Failure,” is forthcoming from Alien Buddha Press in October 2022.