i propose

 

sunday morning   we decide to have pancakes    

make them from scratch   

we have all the ingredients but maple syrup

 

i volunteer to walk down the hill   a degree 

of avoidance   i admit   to the market   

but the market   which was open yesterday   and open

 

for as long as we've live here   is closed   and closed for good   

unless my eyes deceive   it has the air

of hasty retreat   there are no nearby options   

 

if i walk to gilson's   and back   the pancakes   already browning

no doubt   will be cold   

not worth eating   not worth the calories   

 

i lyft   return with syrup   sans twenty-four dollars   plus tips   

i say   no restaurants for two weeks   no indulgences   ha      

 

~

 

sated   perhaps more than sated   the enterprise

almost worth the effort   

we retreat to soft chairs   devices   

 

and the quiet that seems natural to us   

i ask marketa

if she can imagine doing this 

 

this sort of thing   this cohabitation   this life   

for the next fifty years   

she says   i am counting on it   

 

her english is often idiomatic   often obviates contractions   

i take in her words

and wonder at them   can i imagine it   

 

am i that steady   that sure   my history says no   yet   

i can imagine it   what i cannot imagine is   not having it   

 

~

 

i propose   she says yes

the earth tilts on its axis   or so it seems

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Poetry by one trick pony The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 160 times
Written on 2023-11-23 at 03:22

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MetaPoetics The PoetBay support member heart!
It's always a joy to read your work. There's a lot I adore here: the slow progression of events, the narrativization, the O'Hara-esque 'I do this, and I do that.' I really like "the earth tilts on its axis," at the end, the kind of panning out from the scene and giving the reader a detail from outside the world of the story.

By the way, there's so much maple syrup here in this place, I see it at all the stores all the time, lol. Good to read your poetry after a long time, otp!
2023-11-26


Sona The PoetBay support member heart!
quiet, that seems natural to us. Thats music to me. A rhapsody. a symphony. Beautiful. Thats the quiet of a library, of a museum , of a forest, of an expansive lake, holding in itself all the treasures.
2023-11-24


Alan J Ripley The PoetBay support member heart!
I know that feeling,
When carol and I wed.
They told her it would only last a year,
51 years later still waiting.
Unfortunately they didn't say which year.
2023-11-24


Uncle Meridian The PoetBay support member heart!
my favourite part is the description of marketa's contraction-less idiomatic english

i enjoyed reading these 30 lines
2023-11-23


Sameen The PoetBay support member heart!
Beautiful! The way the form and content meld together so seamless makes this poem soar. I love love love this.

You've turned the banalities of life into music. I envy you!
2023-11-23