Do you ever get chills
after stepping into a hot shower?
Goosebumps trailing from one arm
to the other, hair raised
as if spooked.

I think of the childhood tale,
the one about ghosts and goosebumps.
Perhaps a ghost stands with me
in the shower, relishing
in the inability but imagination
of feeling water wash over bare skin.

Do you believe in ghosts? Spirits?
I’m not sure if I do,
but I like the idea of ghostly companionship —
someone hanging out with me
as I putter along in this world.

Media depicts hauntings as terrifying happenstances.
Doors slamming, flames erupting from nowhere,
floors creaking, creaking, creaking.

Do you think there is more subtly
to the art of being a ghost?
I feel like we’d hear more about
hauntings if all ghosts raged among
the living.

I think there are nuances to ghosts,
if they exist.
Most want to peacefully roam,
maybe cause a little chaos —

I mean, who wouldn’t want to
be chaotic-good, at least for a little while?
I wonder who they are,
the ghost that follows me.
I have a feeling it’s a stranger.

If you got to choose,
who would you haunt as a ghost?
I feel like ghosts don’t
follow the traditional timeline,
so you could go back to any place,
any time.

I wouldn’t haunt only one person,
I would travel, see the stories
of people I’ve admired, cared for,
loved.

I’d probably visit you, at some point
in your life, so if you ever
get goosebumps in a hot shower,
know it’s just me,
trying to feel the warm water
flow over my ghostly body.