FREE CHAIRS!

I found a hundred free chairs

today, while walking from my

motel room to a knockoff

Starbucks. These weren’t

chintzy aluminum 

folding chairs, but

fully-loaded, cushioned

armchairs—some with 

stains—upholstered in 

textured marmalade chenille.

They were really free,

with a sign which read 

“FREE CHAIRS!”

out front, that slipped, 

rotated ninety degrees,

and is the only reason,

to my mind, that they were all

still there, on the patio

of the downtown Billings DoubleTree.

I thought, for a few strides,

about the many people who

had sat in those chairs 

through the years, at 

wedding receptions, 

optometry conferences, 

wakes,

and what stories 

the chairs could tell,

but soon got overwhelmed, 

and anyway I don’t have

space for even one 

free chair.