The Poem Series Continues

September 6, 2005
Labor Day Weekend

Saturday morning we went to the farmer’s market
stopped by Boulette’s Larder
to see the big wall of spices
gold and brown and yellow and green
nestled behind the curved glass walls of their jars
and to smell the cooking
It smelled like Thanksgiving in there
like everything you’d ever want to eat
We stood there
breathing

The ferry building makes me happy every time
fig bread! tomato sale! statue of Gandhi!
And Bill was in a good mood
We strolled around and spent too much money and had a grand old time

One purchase keeps unrolling its satisfaction
throughout the successive days:
The dahlias
The way a sight can shoot itself straight into your brain like a dart
color combined with a quality of holding and then releasing the light
a quality of glowing
A round-faced woman with graying bangs was selling
three bunches for ten dollars
I picked out yellow and pink ones
white and lavender ones
orange and yellow ones
at the last minute she remembered she had
one bunch
somewhat crushed
of the dark bright pink I’d wanted most
and gave them to me for free

We came home on the cable car
our arms loaded with bread and flowers
and saw people filming a movie near the Banker’s Heart
all the tourists on the cable car shouted in many languages—
Will Smith! Will Smith!

Yesterday
Bill worked on lesson plans and I did the housework
(the pleasure I take in domestic tasks raising complications in my brain
about being a woman and a wife and all that stuff)
I did the laundry and the ironing with linen spray and changed the sheets
got the groceries
paid bills out of our new joint checking account for the first time
fixed my silver shoe
When that was done I took a hot hot shower
with every good-smelling thing we’ve got in there
(shampoo that smells like candy
rosemary conditioner, apricot scrub, pear-scented goop)

For dinner there were
cheeseburgers cooked on top of sea salt in cast iron and
a tomato basil salad
And then
oh then
to climb freshly-showered into clean sheets
and sleep

image source is here