Rm 102, Family Unit

Before lying down to bed,

she washes her white dinner plate,

pulls out the kitchen towel,

and wipes thoroughly.

For a moment, her face is a mother’s

drying a showered child

covered in tiny beans of water,

as if the boy was there again.

Dolapo Demuren is a Nigerian-American poet from the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. He received his B.A. in Writing Seminars from Johns Hopkins University and M.F.A from Columbia University. His work has been published in Frogpond Journal, Zeniada and Stylus. He currently lives in New York City.