What Can a Mischievous Ghost Do Who Remembers You

at an inopportune time

untie your shoe

reopen the refrigerator

when you're not looking

tilt with regularity

the art hung on your walls

coax your dog to poop inside

just as your neighbor arrives

slow down the driver in another car

so you meet at an intersection

that's normally deserted

set off the smoke alarm

or trip a circuit breaker

smear peanut butter on your pants

cause your head to bump

the door of a cabinet in the kitchen

or stub your toe on something

you don't remember leaving

on the bathroom floor

make your iphone vanish

on a moment's notice

encourage the dogs to wake and bark

when you most need to sleep

help you forget what you went

to the basement to get

by rekindling in your head

memories of unfinished conversations

from your past together

send mockingbirds

to gawk at you

through the windows

as you clean the dirt

from inside the house

and when you finally find

the time to make it out for lunch

urge the birds to relieve themselves

with droppings from above

on your brand new orvis shirt