In the Spare Room by Martha Christina

The spare room’s door
had no lock, so my older
sisters often spent time
with our widowed landlady’s
things, as though they were
meant especially to entertain
them. Her husband had been
our small town’s doctor,
and when she moved out
to her married daughter’s farm,
she left behind his three-dimensional
headless and sexless model,
a human torso with removable
organs, which my sisters
removed and laughed over.

There was also a playable
organ, and once they let me
(their annoying little sister)
join them, let me have
a turn pulling out its stops
and pumping. Although I
knew no songs, I played
enthusiastically, until our
angry mother climbed the
stairs to tell us, again, we
were not allowed in that room.



Martha Christina has published two collections: Staying Found (Fleur-de-lis Press) and Against Detachment (Pecan Grove Press). Her work appears in earlier issues of Red Eft Review, and recently in Star 82 Review, Crab Orchard Review, and Tiny Seed Journal. Born and raised in Indiana, she now lives in Bristol, Rhode Island.