Air-Filter

David Morgan O'Connor

a handyman knocks on my door
hands over an air-condition filter
asks if I know how to install we
get talking about our new divorces
All things must pass I quote and
he starts to cry so I pour a thimble
of single malt crank up Elvis and
ask him to twist we cut the rug
which is actually cheap linoleum
then he spews his real worry is
deportation and losing his kids
who play soccer and the flute
and I ask if he’d like some toast
he declines saying I got three
hundred more filters to deliver  
we agree we both better get back
to work to sort this messy shit out

David Morgan O'Connor is from a small village on Lake Huron. After many nomadic years, he is based in Albuquerque, where a short story collection progresses. He contributes monthly to The Review Review and New Pages. His writing has appeared in Barcelona Metropolitan, Collective Exiles, Across the Margin, Headland, Cecile's Writers, The Great American Lit Mag, Bohemia, Beechwood, Fiction Magazine, After the Pause, The Great American Lit Mag (Pushcart nomination), The New Quarterly and The Guardian. Tweeting @dmoconnorwrites davidmorganoconnor.com