stripes.

at our first house, well,
the first house i remember
i used to count the stripes
in the carpet of my bedroom.
three thousand four hundred and fifty something...
i can't quite remember now.

shades of blood red
amid a neutral palette
of ochres and browns and greens.
stripes so thin
that i would wedge my fingers
between each color
in order to keep count.

i had fashioned a lock
out of nails and hooks.
and in that small room
door closed and bolted
time stopped
stripes became seconds, and for those brief moments
i alone controlled the world.