“Bringing to Boil” … a poem originally published in Necessary Fiction

“Bringing to Boil” is a poem of mine that appeared as one section of “Appalachian Silence among the Dark Selves,” a suite – complete with soundtrack – published in Necessary Fiction. My Mother and Father, as well as a few friends, are central to the work. “Appalachian Silence” is a work that is the ground I walk – the people close to me – the loss that refuses to let go.

 

“Bringing to Boil”
 

This morning, mid-September,
the rooms of my house asleep,
I’m reading Ecstatic Occasions,
Expedient Forms, drinking coffee
from the mug Mary gave me –
a perfect heavy to my hand –
glancing out my door, looking
for something hidden, maybe,
something careless. I spooned
jelly over a halved piece of toast
left from last night’s supper.
The sweetness of the grape
in my mouth – but there’s an edge
of sour, and that’s the beauty
of my Mother coming through –
in the swill of her kitchen,
in the heat of her stove,
such a clash of disparate things,
such a rumble of the smooth.
 
 
 
 
 
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~ by samofthetenthousandthings on March 9, 2016.