Stephen Ruffus

The Visit

—For Kathy

When you come into the room
I am forever wrapped in the gauze
of half-sleep.

You are dressed in white
standing behind
waves of bedsheets
and chloroform

that rise and fall
like a thousand strands of hair.

A jar of formaldehyde hovers
just above your shoulder.

It is like this each morning:
Dreaming of a handkerchief
that falls away
from someone’s mouth

and you stepping towards the bed
carrying your shoes in your hand.

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Stephen Ruffus has studied poetry at Colorado State University, the University of California at Irvine and the University of Utah. Most recently, his work has appeared in the Valparaiso Poetry Review, the American Journal of Poetry and Hotel Amerika. He has work forthcoming in The Stray Branch and Vita Brevis. He is originally from New York City and resides in Salt Lake City where he taught at the University of Utah and Salt Lake Community College.