Routines

Taking your mind off painful subjects and being incapable of doing so.

Ha!

What a satisfying note that thick ceramic made

When the plate slipped through my soapy fingers

               and broke decisively

               at the bottom of the sink---

Five jagged slices of ceramic

      around the drain,

where the suds of family life

          evacuated.

The crack of that dinnerplate

roused me from my dreaming faucet.

And suddenly I took notice of

The quiet, empty rooms haunting the house

                               around me.

The still neutrality of hardwood floors.

The staircase that no longer laughs

           with little footsteps.

I finish the beer that had been sweating

                             on the counter-top,

looked out the crystal clear window into the backyard.

And raised another plate

from the cloudy, uncertain water,

tried scrubbing loose the macaroni grit,

going through the motions,

to make those saucers shine.

Reviews

[KAOlmsted]

"And suddenly I took notice of

The quiet, empty rooms haunting the house

around me.

The still neutrality of hardwood floors.

The staircase that no longer laughs

with little footsteps."

I was all prepared for another wham-bam-f**k-you-ma'am poem about how she makes you crazy and plates are going to be flying around the room...and you grabbed my thoughts by the hair and spun them around and threw them against the wall and read them their rights...the emotions you bring forth in this piece literally made me cry (you b*****d *laugh*) (*sob*) and I just want to read it over and over again to feel that pain with you.

[victoria]

I think our heart has a way of transfiguring such pain even we we try to distract ourselves from it, it manages to pervade our attention. a wonderful poem James

[.]

~ extremely poignant work... my favourite line is...

"The staircase that no longer laughs
with little footsteps."

~ it's a truly heartbreaking image...