Here’s a recent poem. It started out as a rambling kind of story, sort of. Now it’s a rambling poem. It may ramble on some more or not, but for right now, I’m stopping.

I like the world I have created here, and it’s nice to wander through the week and end up ok on the other side, I think.

In This One Week

i.
Saturday.
The back door drifted open
the cat stalked in
feelings hurt
Why I didn’t tell him before now
about the party
he wanted to know
peeved the postman knew
and he
a valued family member
did not
Now that I have told him
he throws at me that
I haven’t given him enough time to do his hair
or some such nonsense while
I try to explain
it was an impromptu kind of thing
we only decided this morning
and he was out
as usual

He said I know he doesn’t like
sudden changes in plan
which I do know but I said
Try it and see what you think

but he wasn’t having it
turned his back on me
 
marched out the door
Count him out for the party
I guess.

ii.
Sunday.
Try it and see what you think.
You know how Sundays go.

iii.
Monday.
I set up to construct a
cheddar cheese flash-in-the-pan
the kids like it so much
but it went wrong in a too-hot oven
Incinerated pungent-smelling circlets
however nicely arranged on plates
are a sub-par snack for after school
but that’s what we have

Well, don’t scold me,
I tell the complaining kids
When things go right you’re all smiles,
but when they don’t, I’d like it better
if you’d just be all smiles then, too.
Try it and see what you think.
That’s what I said.
I gathered up no smiles.

iv.
Tuesday.
I drew a nice sinkful of hot water
The cat had consented to a bath
reluctant but
Try it and see what you think
I said. In the end
He decided to go along
because
I also told him
if he’d just lie still
I’d use the lavender soap
his favorite
which I did.

v.
Wednesday.
My obsolete and jealous-minded
washing machine
in yet another ill-considered
bid for attention
floods the basement
I rig up a hose
snake it outside
drain the room and
water the rosebushes.

I’ll be interested to find out
if toxin-laden detergent water
plumps up their juicy stems
and fleshes out their rosy thorns
I tell them
Try it and see what you think.

And will it affect their taste?
I hope so.
They tend to be a little sour.

vi.
Thursday.
I got to work on a
counterfeit prune squall
a dish I’ve made for years
a crowd favorite. People fight –
the hair-pulling kind of fight –
for just a taste. But today
I have planned well.
My four-layer version serves one hundred.
We have plenty for all.
Your scalp is safe.
Try it and see what you think.

vi.
Friday.
I do not like a disrupted routine.
The cat is nowhere to be found
the kids
my husband
out doing whatever they do
leaving me to ponder the best use of
the morning hours so
I pull out a crate of turnips
from under the stairs
get busy peeling.
Nothing like peeling turnips

I sing:

Lovely purple-top turnips,
peel them, peel them,
It’s a lucky knife that cuts to pieces
Lovely purple-top turnips.

The turnips rest in their pan.
I peel. I sing. I peel.
Try it and see what you think.

vii.
Saturday again.
Steaks on the grill
I truss them up with dental floss
best for a slow burn
after some hours of which
the steaks were done to a turn
were they ever! I dished out plenty
no one went hungry
and
the carbonization was superb.

The cat arriving home
just as we finished up
I set him out a plate
Try it and see what you think
I said
He licked it clean
charcoal crumbs and all
and
in a good mood for a change
he helps me wash dishes while
everyone else goes to the movies.

viii.
Epilogue:
Saturday evening now Saturday night
the cat and I are
feet up
having a beer
and making a grocery list.
There is nothing like sitting on your sofa
with a like-minded companion
and writing out a grocery list.
Try it and see what you think.

2/12/21