My Nice Chrome Rack

The thing you took from
me that made me maddest was
my nice chrome clothes-drying
rack. It bothered me because,
when I met you, you could
hardly fry an egg and then,
through the various
contortions of our acquaintance,
you magically decided
you were the one, out of
the two of us, who really knew
how to cook, and who'd
become a certified expert in
the ways of a laundry machine.
I'd estimate I'd been doing
my own laundry for more than
12 years when I met you,
while you had hardly
left home three years before.
I'd learned the hard way
what to look for in a
clothes-drying rack, and
that chrome one I bought
at a Target in Tampa
was the culmination of all my
years of training.
The fact that you never listened
to the lyrics in the songs you
shared with me pissed me off
almost as much as you
taking my rack. What about
Nick Drake saying,
"Time has told me
to stay by your side,
to keep on trying
'til there's no more to hide"?
If you'd ever listened to that
line, or a hundred others
I know you heard, maybe
you would've recognized
what you had
before you left me. And
maybe I'd still have my nice
chrome clothes-drying rack.

(2006)