Saturday 18 April 2009

In The Kitchen, by Penelope Shuttle

IN THE KITCHEN

A jug of water
has its own lustrous turmoil

The ironing board thanks god
for its two good strong legs and sturdy back

The new fridge hums like a maniac
with helpfulness

I am trying to love the world
back to normal

The chair recites its stand-alone prayer
again and again

The table leaves no stone unturned
The clock votes for the separate burial of hearts

I am trying to love the world
and all its 8,000 identifiable languages

With the forgetfulness of a potter
I’m trying to get the seas back on the maps
where they belong

secured to their rivers

The kettle alone knows the good he does,
Here in the kitchen, loving the world,
Steadfastly loving

See how easy it is, he whistles

12 comments:

  1. I like this...It reminds me a little of Charles Simic's poems, which I also like.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Not so easy. But still whistling. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello,

    I just met someone for the first time - I believe you know her - S.D....

    Read your "review" in the vaults with great interest and felt compelled to reach out and contact a fellow friend of hers...

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lidian, I'll go find some of Charles Simic's poems to read, thanks for that, I keep looking for new poetry and read too much that I don't like in search of some which i do.

    Max: Sometime I lose my ability to whistle, just sometimes.

    Russ: Okay, I give in. I don't know who or what you're referring to. S.D.? Review? Vaults? are you sure you mean me?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Apparently there is another blogger from the UK with the moniker "M. Soubriquet"...I was being purposefully cryptic in an effort to be discreet. If you'd like, I could email you a link that would explain what I'm going on about. Sorry to be so...so James Bond-ish!
    :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. oh Russ - pick me! pick me! you can forward the link to me. as i've been serving Master Soubriquet as his lowly serving wench since he was wet behind the ears!!

    and well, you know - i've kept My ears to the ground!!

    and ooooooo do i like mysteries !!
    snickering
    xxx
    rdm

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ha!
    Well, Russ, please do email me the link, I'm ersatz dot soubriquet at gmail, and I'm incurably curious, I've just been googling soubriquet because of my curiousity...there's a wordpress blogger in california who uses the monicker, she's a photographer, there's an english person in Japan who is into ski-ing, um..... A Soubriquet in Pennsylvania, Oh! and LOOK! a RACEHORSE!!!!! I'm a RACEHORSE too!
    And there's one who leaves comments on a website about F1 racing, another, or maybe the same who has an Alfa Romeo, which might be cool, depending on which one. An Alfasud would be uncool, for instance...
    Red Dirt Mule: Cease the snickering, dammit. And pick your ears up off the ground before you trip over them. I suppose you think this is evidence of another mule in my paddock? Rest assured, you have the only paddock key.
    Serving Wench? Serving? Hm. As google would say "Did you mean Serbian Winch?".

    ReplyDelete
  8. OK - will do! I long for the days when there were no duplicate names on the internet. (sigh) And if this is a case of mistaken identity (most likely is, at this point), I certainly apologize for desecrating your blog like this.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I shudder to think of being reincarnated as this:

    http://media.photobucket.com/image/serbian%20winch/phill_dvsn/winch.jpg

    ;)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks Russ, I'm blown away by the serbian winch, who'd have thought it?
    Well, you, obvously. Thanks for bringing a bit of intrigue to the day, I can confidently say, however, that unless a big lump of memory has self combusted, the Soubriquet reviewing in those vaults was not me. My life is often strange and contradictory, but my psychedelic of choice is assam tea.
    Interesting, nonetheless...............
    Take care in your travels and eschew datura stramonium, (Jimson Weed), I have a load of its seed, and was once tempted to grow them until I read more carefully its track record.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ah - the mystery is solved! So - you're one of *those* folks who apparently hoards and protects his brain cells as if...as if they're something precious! (Perhaps you're on the right path)

    You can be sure I shall eschew the dreaded datura, as most of what I've read about said weed screams "Bad Juju!"

    I guess I'll periodically check back here, maybe stop and smell the poetry, and who knows - possibly conjure up some more intrigue!

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  12. uhhhhhh......
    yep. a case of mistaken i-dent-ty-eee, you two:
    last time i checked, i had no serbs in my fine lineage - just a gorgeous lassy and some damn smart ass.

    i wondered who took my extra paddock key ...
    guess i'd better mouth up here,
    a-fore the dreaded hoof-in-mouth disease
    takes over completely!

    no snickering ...
    just one snick.
    or ...
    a few drive-bys
    rdm

    ReplyDelete


Spam will be reported and swiftly deleted. I will put a curse upon you if you post spam links.