Tuesday, April 24, 2012

States Avenue


We sat on that corner
and argued the politics
of rye & ginger,
too broke for breakfast.

We knew the park’s damp pillow
after a long night,
the muddy dogwalks
that led us home:

a two-room flat,
the landlord’s foul rendition
of “Stardust” in the garden.
Now these days rattle

with a pill-jar all their own.
I hear the late TV’s
overture to the lonely
repeated beyond these walls.

I think I see your slow dance
on the sidewalk, your misbegotten
groceries, the kitchen ready
to let you in, paused

in the scene you loved:
the spoon at ease against the bowl,
the dishtowel soft
and waiting for disaster.



(Appeared in Permafrost)


Posted for DVerse Poets OpenLinkNight, Week 41.
Hello, DVerse poets!

6 comments:

  1. Ah, this really moves me. I love the way it is set in place and time and the at ease spoon and the waiting dishtowel. http://looseleafnotes.com

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  2. this is really cool...full of wonderful descriptions and has a really great flow to it as well...would love to hear it...the politics of rye and ginger...and the dishtowel waiting for disaster, som fav touches...

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  3. I think this is my first visit to ur page. I am very impressed. Very accomplished and well written. One of my favs so far. Line after line of excellence.

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  4. Finely distilled and striated bit of heart here, Amy, memory like a dust-mote suspended mid-air on a beam of old light. And there's more than a little dustbowl depression in this reverie, state of the art, the heart, the polity. Tough times. You deserve a lot more readers than have wandered by in the d'Verse Pub; the size of the forum I think conspires to keep eyeballs away. Keep coming back - Brendan

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  5. This is wonderful, understated and yet filled with such intense images and ideas - I especially like "misbegotten groceries" - that the simple becomes a revelation. This is the first time I visited your blog (so much to read, so little time!) but I'm so glad I did. Bookmark-worthy!

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