We share our fruity ambrosia
clink shiny pilsners
salute undying friendship
good night, the next logical step
but after a quick bathroom break
they settle in the TV room
You don’t mind do you
we don’t have this at home
plunk their bottoms on our La-Z-Boy
begin binge watching
thirty-three seasons of The Simpsons.
We try to rush them out at closing credits
but they have popped a pizza in the oven
and are 125 points into 500 Rummy.
We’ll never get them out of here
we may as well head to bed
We stumble upon them the next morning
subtle hints miss their target
we’re like a couple of blind archers.
But you have so much
first spurs sympathy
then alters our cordial outlook;
They have usurped our space
taken over our lives
we are stranded at the delicate
intersection of I Want to be Supportive
and Get the Hell Out.
Elaine Sorrentino has been published in Minerva Rising, Willawaw Journal, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Ekphrastic Review, ONE ART: a journal of poetry, Haiku Universe, Sparks of Calliope, Gyroscope Review, and Panoplyzine. She hosts the Duxbury Poetry Circle and was featured on a poetry podcast at Onyx Publications.
