Stove top, or: Sink

Poetry Partners #26

‘my kitchen is a graveyard’ by Jo of ‘people in poetry’

this poem has no metaphors.
everyday, in the garden of my
stove top, scalding and burned,
i resurrect the last few memories
i still have of places i have lived.
and in the absence of the life
carried in the hum of spices
and song of ancient technique,
i realize i do not know what it
means, truly, to keep something -
(yes, sometimes even myself)
a ravishing kind of alive.

• Jo: https://peopleinpoetry.wordpress.com/

A double acrostic by ben Alexander of ‘The Skeptic’s Kaddish’

(in blank verse)

really, really, no, no Really... they hum
at me while washing the dishes at home;
vibrations reverberating, cold, hot
images of submerged glasses, spoons, tea
saucers, plates, frying pans, big hands, green soap,
him standing there, attentive to each dish,
intent upon his chore; an old photo,
now fraying in my mind, of my father
gearing down after his mathematics

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Let’s write poetry together!

When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

–Ben Harper (b. 1969)

Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

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List of Poetry Partners