Thursday, November 29, 2018

spill

I can't write just one line
I have to spill
my therapist encourages my interest in cleaning houses 
I reread "A Manual For Cleaning Women"
spill spill
untenable winter, everything dark
"The future is dark, which is the best thing the future can be, I think."
when I get home from work
it's like the sidewalks have gone vertical outside
I have to keep still to be safe

go for walks


Mary told us a a riddle 
or was it a clue from a cross word?
it turns into another story
the answer is
a spiral staircase
I’m enchanted by that

walking the road behind Kayla’s house
behind this urban place 
with some shops on a strip
it mysteriously curves
slopes up and around 
to a beautiful LA vista

a surprise rural canyon
rolling hills empty and gold 
a couple pointy junipers
and dry yellow grass

climbing the clean sidewalk is like
marble
a spiral staircase in a fairytale castle
up into air smelling like eucalyptus, magnolia

we've been singing songs from 
Snow White and Pinocchio all day
I'm weeesshinng
walking in a wispy wonderland
pink sunset then mist over the moon

we talk about Rebecca Solnit’s essay
on Virginia Woolf’s “darkness”
it's about walking, and hoping
and her "the future is dark" quote

we keep singing 
I'm weeesshinng
I'm weeshing
between talking
and I do wish
I do hope

Sunday, November 11, 2018

Twin Star 60 PCS Oneida Flatware Never Used Vintage SHINY

I wonder if all my poems are household poems
they're all about plants grooming bedding
the things that keep me going
in anticipating moving I'm collecting dining things
a pink glass dinnerware set
a red glass dinnerware set
both say "MADE IN FRANCE"
a marbled blue and white enamel dinnerware set
all the sets have 4 dinner plates 4 salad plates 
4 bowls 4 cups
also the 4 Mexican clay dishes
with painted white and green flowers
that I bought at the freaky flea market in MD
and 8 thin bubble colored goblets 
with clover shaped mouths 
and the type of hollow stem that holds liquid
they remind me of Glenda the Good Witch 
I just ordered a 60 piece silverware set 
the 1960s "Twin Star" design by Oneida 
I can't stop thinking about how nice 
it will be to host with them
it keeps me going truly I am fantasizing 
about the day we can go to Wing Phat Plaza
and buy a humongous bag of rice
and thinking about buying bulk dry goods
for my pantry
for a kitchen where I can obsess about minimizing waste
where I will never use paper towels and will have
all matching kitchen towels 
that I wash once a week
call me crazy but 
I feel infinite peace thinking about it

Monday, November 5, 2018

Sunday Prompt: A Household Poem


A Household Poem
sounds like it's something
for everyone in the house to hold
like a household dog
something shared
I imagine it on the fridge
it could be like rules or
a chore chart cooking
has been reheating
recently

I think of the old Christian Guys
who founded Hermon scary
around the fireplace in 1912
rats probably maybe harmony

my grandma's pet rat Georgia 
lived on her kitchen counter
she was tan and white with
red eyes and now I need
clorox wipes

my grandma has already
visited me in every dream
I've almost given up on 
sleeping don't count on it
need to cushion the ends
of it with pillows but
they are still suffocating
in garbage bags outside
which reminds me
I need to take out the trash
tonight

tonight's sleep cushioned 
on either end with the 
grumbling of trash can
wheels and then the
chaos of garbage truck

it's hard to believe 
they don't crush cars
with the claws

yesterday, I read a children's book
called Trashy Town
there was a lot of repetition and
it was about a real garbage man 
named Mr. Gibby