Instructions for Receiving the Unscheduled

1. Move the shoes from the only dry step.

2. Put water within reach.
Ask before touching the cup.

3. Leave the door unlatched.
The stop is a brick
from the street that no longer exists
on this side of the fold.

4. Do not ask which version
of the town they came from.
They may not know yet.

5. Offer the room
with the warm pipe.
Let the children choose;
the adults decide who stays awake.

6. Write names only if offered.
Do not call an empty box neutral.

7. Someone says the settlement
was warned about the route.
Someone else says the warning
arrived after the window closed.

8. There is no item for this:
the neighbour will not open her flat.
She has a son on the other side
and has heard what people like us do
with a door left unguarded.

9. Keep the water where it is.
Let her keep the key.

10. If the office calls,
say how many came tonight.
Do not say how many may come.
That number belongs to tomorrow
and tomorrow has not agreed.

11. Lift the brick.
Put it under the door.

12. Stay where you are
until everyone inside
has chosen a room.