Lease
By Margaret Christakos

Impatient: You had visited the day of purchase,
Dates each had costumed. Every item on own

Hanger, recalled the fabric, as I pushed each
Room. Was emptied; then began the disavowal passing

My skin, on sculptural trays. Blouses skidded past
Years. Here was all my stuff, held through

The world until the glass vases. Dozens of
Objects I’d worn against it had been six

Matched earrings; arrayed once or twice but
I, I used to live there. The room

On a scallop shell was filled with beautiful
Storage for today, & then: I left for good.

**This poem appeared in The Walrus Magazine, December/January 2005 Issue

Margaret Christakos has been a worker in the field of letters. She is an accomplished Canadian poet and fiction writer, originally from Sudbury, Ontario, who has lived in Toronto since 1987. Christakos has published several collections of poetry and a novel. Her most recent collection is Multitudes, from Coach House Press (2013).