Tax Talk and Lace Underwear

I told him that we may want
to keep it romantic
all this family stuff
seemed to take
even the best ones down
my fear
that once he was really in
there’d be more chores
less
candlelight

and now
he’s in
at 5:55am
the kitchen, that is
where we’re whispering
the sweet somethings
the practicals
Jeb’s fever that woke him in the night
strep throat symptoms
and general excise taxes

this morning
before sunrise
it’s the takeover
from sexy
to sickness
schedules

at least I’m aware
standing there
in nothing
but my Ganesha t shirt
and Victoria’s Secret
underwear
that something here
has changed

our meeting adjourned
he’ll trim his beard in the bathroom
I’ll come to write poetry
while Jeb still sleeps
the sun’s rising
soon
there’ll be
wet wash cloths to wring
a thermometer to monitor
coordination of
work and dinner

and then
he says
“come see the sky!”
we step out onto the balcony
whack webs away
to see
pink clouds
hear the birds
gaze upon
the sliver that’s left
of the moon

 

Jessica Dofflemyer ~ all rights reserved

 

Piecing Shards

He was the one that even suggested
I try to glue it back
I thought I’d be making something new
some abstract mosaic
from the wreckage

I’d failed the matriarchs
my grandmother
her mother
the dishes passed down
a few just didn’t make it still intact
in their journey across the Pacific

He says it’s not my fault
I packed them well
those guys
they just throw the boxes around
don’t really care

And now
he’s slipped the glue out of my hands
has casually overtaken
the piece-together project
I gladly surrender
to his desire
to match the seams
perfectly
which is hard
when hundred-year old pottery
goes to shards

I love his exacting efforts
celebrate with him
each piece
one by one
as they stay in place
leaving us with only
a pile of thin shreds
millimeter shavings
of color
he tries to match
to the dish surface

toothpick in hand
he gently edges them
minute fractions
nano scale proportions
“ahh! I got another one!”

when we are left
to nearly dust
we reach our stopping point
he considers ways to treat the surface
so you can’t see the cracks

It’s ok
I tell him
let’s not try to hide them
I don’t know the tales of this bowl before me
but I know it has a story now
how after a trip across the ocean
they got shaken
but the ever-diligent Czech
pieced it together
with a smile

This bowl’s going to hold
hands of bananas
overflow with lilikoi and limes
live now
at our table

 

Jessica Dofflemyer ~ all rights reserved

Making Goulash

how it was
that we stayed up until 12:30am
making goulash?

towards the end
we were so tired
that he forgot English
and I couldn’t
finish sentences
because I was falling
asleep on his shoulder

from his mouth
potatoes
became tomatoes
peppers
were paprika
and we would just shake our heads
and resort to pointing

I’ve overslept this morning
no time for my writing hour
but we’ve got a big
bright vat
of slavic sustenance
on the stove top

Na zdraví

 

courtesy of roolrool