To A Realtor

I am apartment hunting. Or apartment fishing. Or perhaps both. It has been a while, so I found myself forgetting how to be polite to the realtor/landlord while simultaneously trying to really feel if I could live in this space. And so, today’s draft was born.

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedI am walking through the rooms of your apartmentI want to say: Be still.Be quiet -- I am trying to hearif this is home. I am trying to gauge if the breath of this room will sigh contentedly under the weight of my footstepsor rattle around, asthma-choked,wheezing just enough into my earsto unbalance me. I am trying to see if my hand fits over this door handle,my foot lands on the new-tiled floorlike an embrace with a long-lost friend.