The Resident Ghosts

by Sarah Koenig

 

The ghosts we brought with us were thrilled by the new house. They flitted around, testing the
light switches. Even the dust was fresh. Suddenly it didn’t seem so bad to be stuck between life
and death. They were too busy posting pictures on Instagram to realize there were ghosts already
living there. #perfect. #noghostshere. #just_us. Windows looked out onto trees. Windows looked
into gray walls and vintage molding. The resident ghosts were shadows of shadows of shadows,
shushing each other in the old library. Opening the saddest books, then closing them up again.

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SARAH KOENIG lives in Seattle, WA. Her poetry has appeared in Gravel, DIAGRAM, Barrow Street, and Forklift, Ohio, among other journals. It has also appeared on King County transit as part of the Poetry on Buses project and in Washington 129, an anthology of Washington State poets.