House Hunters
Always at dinner, we watch
an episode of House Hunters International,
dream about leaving our jobs
and moving abroad:
Prague, Costa Rica, Helsinki,
Australia, Mexico.
We guess which of the three places offered
the featured couple will pick.
Make our own selections.
We always agree
we like the best one
and are often wrong
about the one they choose.
We gasp at the deals you can get
on a spacious apartment
in Spain, Portugal
or just about anywhere
outside of LA.
Last night it was Lyon
and we dreamt of sipping
a bold Bordeaux
on the tiled terrace of a house
the couple considers
then rejects.
Nearly all the couples
are younger than us,
mostly in their late twenties
or early thirties,
some with kids,
some without.
Both of us over fifty,
we wonder if it’s too late
to pack up and leave
for another country.
We know this is the youngest
we’ll ever be again.
We met when we were
no longer kids and too old
to have kids
which sometimes we regret.
And, of course, not once in 150 episodes
has anyone ever said,
“We hate this place,”
“the biggest mistake of our lives,”
“we are getting divorced.”
And I suppose it’s better
that way. We don’t always want
to see too much reality
in a reality show.
I suppose it’s better to just dream
of living a different life,
as we finish our plates.
*
The Timeless Café, Sofia
It can be a bit mysterious to find,
Tom says. The entrance is down a ramp
behind a building, by an empty garden.
At the door, no hours are posted. Inside,
the lights are kept low, candles flicker
on wobbly tables, chairs old and rickety
like the grandmothers with canes
you pass on the streets, backs bent,
carrying bags of vegetables and yogurt.
On the menu, no extra sides of time
or desserts sweetened by the promise
of eternity, just the usual fare.
*
Night Guard
The dentist suggests I wear
a night guard on my teeth.
She can see little cracks forming.
She pulls up an image
of the inside of my mouth
and projects it on a screen.
I’m here for a routine checkup,
after months of cancelling
and rescheduling appointments.
“It’s important to take care
of your teeth as you age,” she says.
I don’t argue. I know she’s right.
There is a lot to take care of as I age,
a lot of little cracks forming.
Not to mention the need
for something to guard me
against the night.
*
Clint Margrave is the author of three poetry collections: The Early Death of Men, Salute the Wreckage, and Visitor, all from NYQ Books. He is also the author of the novel Lying Bastard (Run Amok Books) and editor of Requiem for the Toad: Selected Poems of Gerald Locklin (NYQ Books). Some of his poems have appeared in The Threepenny Review, Rattle, B O D Y, and New York Quarterly, with nonfiction in The Sun, Michigan Quarterly Review and Los Angeles Review of Books. He recently served as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Bulgaria, living in Sofia, and teaching creative writing at Sofia University.