Dear Housekeeper

wake, my dear aged sleeper
at 4 o’clock wake, listen
inside holes and dark corners
where water and damp settle
our groups chew wood, peal off paint,
chew shoes too, dear housekeeper,
pee beside all things that glisten.
show who likes how foreigners
come, invade and resettle,
one way, and one day acquaint.
all exterminators look
at are bills, bills and more bills
not ever looking at nooks
where our tenures will linger

leonell echa