JOURNAL 12

but they gave me a bag of salt, a bag of rice, and oil,
one toothbrush, one soap, two buckets, I didn’t know why,
and bags of things I never saw before.

She said “I’ve been here for years. In two years or five years
I don’t know where I’ll be. Only God knows.

As they forced me to the bedroom, I yelled,
“Turn up the TV very loud.”