Instructions

by Kyla Houbolt

If you find a doorknob in the trash (we won't ask what you're doing in the trash) it may be attached to an invisible door. If you try to open it, first, make sure you are not standing on the door. Some of these doors are quite strong and you could end up on your back in the trash. So, first even before that, make sure you have chosen clean trash. Because you can't always know if you are standing on the door. When you twist the knob, you may feel a kind of buzz in your hand, but do not let go! Especially if the buzz is accompanied by a faint jingling reminiscent of the tunes played by ice cream trucks. Those invisible doors, that buzz and jingle, are only trying to warn you, but pay no attention to any such warning. Also, it may be that you twisted the knob in the wrong direction, so try the other way. If the second twist also produces buzzing and jingling you're good to go. Go ahead. Walk through. Find yourself behind the trash. Isn't it wonderful there? No trash for miles and miles, as far as you can see. But you can't stay, so, don't let go of the doorknob. There may not be one on the other side and if you lose the door, you are doomed to a trashless existence and that, surely, would be a nightmare. Because don't we all need it, the trash? Probably best to roll over and go to sleep again. There will still be plenty of trash in the morning. Probably.

Kyla Houbolt occupies Catawba territory in Gastonia, NC. Her first two chapbooks, Dawn's Fool and Tuned were published in 2020, and Tuned is soon to be released in a digital version. More about them, and her individually published pieces online can be found on her Linktree. She is on Twitter @luaz_poet.