The Kimchi House
over on 24th Avenue NW
is closed
on Mondays just like
I’d like to be
while I nurse
my residual hangovers
from weekend sports
and I envy those
who make my Tuesday
kimchi jjigae
staying on Mondays
in their homes or running
errands or perhaps drinking
soju throughout
the day and not thinking
about me at all
until I show up on Tuesday
begging of their time
and their ingredients
that I might be nourished
and cured,
at least,
that is,
until next Monday
when they are closed
once more
and I must
question everything
about my life
for twenty-four hours.
Dave O'Leary is a writer and musician in Seattle. His most recent collection of poetry and short prose, I Hear Your Music Playing Night and Day, was published in May 2021 by Cajun Mutt Press, and he misses the cats immortalized therein.