Haunted House

Milo Grey
Milo Grey
Nov 2 · 2 min read
A black and white photo of a secluded farmhouse surrounded by a circle of bare trees in a clearing
A black and white photo of a secluded farmhouse surrounded by a circle of bare trees in a clearing

You are already dangerously close
to falling in too deeply love
the first time they tell you
their body is a haunted house.
You know they just mean it cracks
and pops when they move,
but all you want to say is
that you lived with a ghost
most of your childhood
and he was good company
at least for a while.

And you want to say
that you’ve never felt at home
in a cleanly painted space
where the floors are even,
and that you don’t trust stairs
if none of them call out
to let you know someone is coming.

You want them to know
that you like the breeze
that sneaks through old windows
to the back of your neck
even in the winter,
that you like the attics and basements
everyone has the good sense to avoid
until it’s time to get out Christmas decorations.

That you’re damn near bursting
with the ghosts of all the men in your family
who were crushed by the weight
of all the ghosts before them.

You want to tell them
that you know
beyond a shadow of doubt
that if you stop and set foot
in Kentucky for more than 5 minutes
the mountain witch
that cursed your grandfather
would mess with your car
to keep you there for days
and come into your dreams
and ask you if you’re strong enough
to fix what he broke,
and that you know you aren’t yet
so you don’t stop in Kentucky
but you will someday.

You want to tell them
that you think the 2006
animated film Monster House
is beautiful and romantic
and severely underrated,
and that you’d have lived
in that monster House
possessed by your late wife
until your dying day
if you were Mr. Nebbercracker.

You want them to know
how much you love chipped paint
and how you can’t resist peeling it all up
until someone stops you
because it’s so nice
to have something to do
with your hands besides worry.

“My body is a haunted house,”
they tell you.
“Thank god,”
you say.
“I’ve been looking
so long
for a place to call home.”

Milo Grey

Milo Grey

Either a queer anarchist and poet, or several to-do lists stacked on top of each other in a trench coat. Good at making spaghetti and writing love notes.

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