poetry writing challenge - day 27

write a poem of longing.


Old House Kitchen

each word is like a steel ball
dropped in a steel bucket
rolling
empty echoes
they have nothing to do with you.

i could begin by seeing, describing
the kitchen
how that drawer pulled out
and dropped off its tracks
and it would have nothing to do
with you

or the banana peel i put now
fraudulently in the trash
that doesn't exist
that i make up thinking
i could make you up too
or at least your shoes
blue summer shoes
kicked off on the old brick floor

steel ball in a bucket
nothing but circling echoes.
the walls blasted out
the staircase
folded like an accordian

the four wooden steps where we'd sit
in our long warm sleeping shirts
with coffee
and look at Callie, the tree,
misted in the Long Island autumn damp
a little girl by our side
a little bird hopping

the pantry one step down where you kept
everything you needed
to feed us and make us happy.

rich and blessed life.

east wall
west wall
first ceiling
second ceiling
rubble fallen on a handwritten song

brick floor, copper pot, double stove
dripping water, dish drainer, cereal box, cup
full of spoons, hurricane lamps, door latch that lifted
rhododendrons and wet pavers outside
and I would go to the car to get the bag
with flour and yeast and cheeses and i would bring them back

hurry hurry
(fog in my hair) back just to
stand next to you

to stir
the sound of your laughter
into the mix

to move the spoon
as best as I could
in steady,
even
circles.