With Respect
Here’s part of a poem from last year that is currently in Heavy Bear 4 and was previously mentioned in the last post.
The Donna Ramble
When I got the news
I didn’t shed a tear
But got straight to
Work on the dishes
A daunting task
At best
As I had let myself go
To seed
Reduced to just getting by
On a pot, a pan and a bowl
While the sink began to
Look and smell like a
Plane crash in a swamp
So at best
It was ominous work
But it had to be done sometime
And sometime arrived with that
Phone call
I put on some lively radio
And while the sink filled
With hot, bubbly water
I took a hit off the pipe
I was ready
The pile of porcelain and
Blackened metallic things began
To disappear amongst a
Billowing cloud of milky white
Bubbles
I dove in
It was dirty work
But as the job progressed
I found my groove and
Settled into a rhythm
While I was on auto-pilot
I thought about you (not
The generic “you” that
I often think about
While doing the dishes
But you, my dearly departed friend)
I thought about my seeming
Hard-heartedness
How I had no tears for you yet
Maybe you are not dead to me
Maybe you are still going to
Call me back
Maybe I’m mourning you
Over a sink full of metaphors…
(continued at Heavy Bear 4)
