Zk | Poetry challenges

A road trip. A dome of stress within the car, and golden fields without. A hotel room. Quiet, dark, cold against the heat, floor to ceiling blackout curtains. Riverbend ponds. A lace of trails and lakes, more than enough reflections of sunsets. A return drive. Twice the stress, golden fields again, all two days earlier than expected. A husband (supposedly) in a recliner (his) in the living room (ours?) in a house (mortgage: $3,106 a month). “Concert tomorrow.” Lazy. Flat affect. Quotidian. Estimated time of return: Sunday morning; the next day. Monday. Silence. Lots of friends down there. Tuesday. Silence. Worried… Wednesday phone call: “Hey.” Eloquent. Estimated time of return: never. A locked door. The key — a hex wrench, black, slender — now a decoration of junk drawers. A bedroom. An echoing expanse of empty walls, and golden fields of bare carpet. A wife. Quiet, dark, cold against the heat, hidden behind floor to ceiling blackout curtains.