From the book published in 2021, And Don’t Come Back.
When You Visit
The idea of you sitting
in a chair
in my living room.
Talking. Laughing.
The amorality of your glance.
The chill you give off. I shiver.
The idea of you sitting
in a chair
in my living room.
You have not yet set foot in my house.
I rise
I hurry
I slap back to shape the pillows you lean against
I polish your fingerprints from the chair arms you touch
I vacuum your footmarks out of the carpet
I wipe the doorknob
I open the window
Not enough.
Because there is always
the idea of you
sitting
in a chair
in my living room
7/28/20
Claudia McGill Writes Poetry, Did You Know That? 
The dislike is palpable. Rough salt works well. Even if it’s an imaginary situation. Bath in it.
Yes. There are some people that are simply repelling and their presence upsets me. I don’t like to let such people near me, much less into my house. You are right, you need a cleansing after such encounters.
One does! I’m due one myself! A healer I know recommends regular salt baths as a matter of course (cause?) 😂
This is how I think of death! An unwelcome visitor!
And how.
I like the idea of getting busy around the house to reclaim it as one’s own space just because the thought of a particular person being inside the home is so repellant that a cleansing process has to take place.
Yes, I feel more and more as I get older that my house is just for me. Entertaining to take place elsewhere!