Thursday, June 2, 2011

Next in the Poem Sequence about Fall 2005


September 15, 2005
I’ve been thinking a lot about heat

How when you sit in the bath as it fills
the heat from the water rises up over your skin
in waves and prickles
blooming like fireworks across your back
and radiating down your arms
How good it feels to wrap your hands around a hot glass of tea
To wrap a scarf around your neck when it's cold out
To wash your hands in very hot water
Or burrow under the covers at night
But these pleasures perplex me because I hate hot weather
So how can the bath, the mug, the scarf, the blankets be so divine?
Maybe it’s the contrast of feeling heat when part of you is cold
Or maybe warmth is different than heat

I’ve been thinking a lot about stones too
I got out my mason jar
(oh, mason jars!)
of stones and shells and broken bits this morning
and spread them all out on the dining table
to pick some out for Bill to take to work for a caveman project
And then I sorted them
making little areas for
shells and
sea glass and
rough stones and
polished stones
manmade things and bones and seed pods
And it was beautiful
and I wished there was some clean expanse of wood or white fabric
where they could live in that swirling arrangement forever
Many hold memories and I told Bill some of those over breakfast
and even the ones I don’t remember anything about
are moving
A sea-smooth stone that is utterly white
A tiny pink shell like a snail’s the size of a lentil

Today I saw a black and white photo
of either oval stones or eggs
I’m not sure which
I read a reference last night to the perfection of eggs
And its true
Their shape and colors and rough-smooth texture
are one of the best things
They photograph beautifully
Egg cartons
the cardboard ones
I also always think are awfully good
Functional and elegant and visually pleasing
And another thing I’d put in the egg carton category is buttons

image source is here.

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