Haunted by the Living

By Heather Watson

The people who live in the apartments around mine aren’t silent.

I hear the music they play, their laughter, and their steps on the outside stairs,

But I don’t see them with my blinds shut, and even if they were open, it would be impolite to stare,

So I wonder if they are really there, and if they are, do they hear my voice in the same way I do theirs?

An unintelligible jumble of words like whispers on the wind,

Ghostly and fleeting.