A Windowless Room on a Saturday Night

They put me

In a windowless room

On a Saturday night

Knowing I wouldn’t

Want

To get out

They set me down

And told me

That I could move

If I wanted to

Knowing I wouldn’t

Want to

That the walls

Were a comfort

Because they were all-in-one

With no architectural interruptions

The ceiling was so high

I could never dream

Of touching it

And the floor was soft

Not carpeted

But smooth
And cool to the touch

Like marble

But not marble

Because marble is expensive

Who can afford

Marble these days?

I sit cross-legged

Until my legs go numb

And then I stand up

And I ask someone

If they’ll come get my watch

Because I don’t want to know

What time it is

They tell me

I can turn the watch around

If I don’t want to know the time

But they can’t send someone in

Because I’m not supposed

To have any human interaction

Until Sunday morning

I turn the watch around
But the face of it

Is too cold against my skin

So I take it off

And slide it across the room

Into a corner

Now I only have three corners

I can sit in

Unless I want to sit on my watch
And I don’t

Because I don’t want to break it

Because my grandfather gave it to me

But I don’t want to know the time

I know it’s a Saturday night

And I know people are doing

The kinds of things

People do

On Saturday nights

And that’s all I need to know

If I’m going

To tell myself a lie

I would tell myself

That there’s nothing

Outside of this room

And then I’ll feel sad

Because it’ll mean

I’m all alone

In this world

Aside from the doctors outside

Who are mad

Because they have to work

On a Saturday night

But if it’s just us

Then it won’t matter

Because Saturday’s won’t mean anything

Days and time

And all those things

People came up with

Won’t mean anything

And we’ll be liberated

From feeling like we have to do anything

Based on something

Manufactured

If I believe the lie

I tell myself

Then I don’t mind

Being in a windowless room

On a Saturday night

And I can stay here forever

And never feel like it matters

They can drop off food to me

And when I get bored

They’ll give me a book
And tell me to read it

But I can’t

Because it’s in French

So they’ll give me a book

On learning French

And I’ll learn it well enough

To read it

But not to speak it

And the days will go by

And I’ll get older

And one day

There won’t be anymore days

And they’ll take me out of here

And put somebody new

Right where I’m sitting

And if that person

Doesn’t have a watch

They can sit in any corner

They want

But that’s thinking

Very far ahead

And I try not to do that

I try to be in the moment

I should write that

On the walls

Just so I don’t

Forget