The Room of Resentment

Your lino is shabby and never truly clean. Three earlier layers of flooring show through your cracks and missing tiles, while you’ve become the mouthpiece for the pattern underneath.

Your unfinished alcove mocks us daily. I guess we should have asked you what surprises we might find when we replaced the broken, antique, Chambers oven.

The biggest betrayal of all was the way you embraced his love of cooking and whispered in his ear, “Ask her to go. It’s the only way she can help. I’m not big enough for the both of you.”

I used to have dreams for fixing you up, returning you to your mid-century roots. But, it’s been easier to ignore you for a while now.

But, that’s about to change. The Keurig is still my friend and we’re staging a coup. The cats, the dining room chairs, and all the vegetarian cookbooks are with us, and at midnight we cook.

Coffee

The revelation that is coffee never gets old.
The sting of that first sip in the morning becomes a zing when hot sauce is added to the mix.
And don’t underestimate the importance of the mug it is served in.
A sacred vessel, it must be the exact right size and shape
to retain heat and usher the aroma toward sleepy nostrils.
Today my coffee is a robust blend of inspiration and audacity,
with bright notes of joy and an earthy undertone of satisfaction.

October 2002

That October when a madman was picking off random people
No one saw anything coming, until, “Pop!” Another one dead.
We were all on edge, the old, the young, the hip, the square - any of us targets.
Feeling exposed under the suburban sky, I would serpentine my way home from the Metro.
Harder to shoot you if you don’t walk a straight line.
A bizarre commute - heart pounding, lungs working like bellows, careening across the sidewalk. Whatever you do, get home in one piece.

Sing a Song of Sneezles (An Imaginary Cough Syrup-induced CD)

Sing a Song of Sneezles: Questionable Lullabies for Drippy Noses

Featuring:

1. Sneezles and Wheezles
2. Achoo! That Got My Shoe!
3. Mommy’s Got a Migraine, Hurry Up and Hide
4. Who Ya Gonna Call? Snotbusters!
5. Gimme That Board, Gonna Sand It With My Nose
6. Breathing, I Hardly Knew Ya
7. Don’t Confuse Your Cough With Your Coffee
8. Sailing Along on a Thousand Cups of Tea
9. Oh, to Breathe Again
10. Ain’t a Sore Throat Great? You’re Like a Fire-Breathing Dragon! 

And Bonus Track:
Codeine, I Love You to the Moon and ...Zzzzz

December

Dead leaves scrape in the wind,
Early sunsets, a night owl’s dream.
Cold, dark mornings beg for candles. (Who am I kidding? I’m never up that Early.)
Menorahs twinkling and latkes frying.
Better buy your gifts online;
Even after all these years you can’t compete with Olympic-medal Christmas shoppers.
Revel in the holiday madness, as January’s bland buffet of un-specialness will be here soon enough.

Black Friday

Black Friday gives way to silver Saturday,
eclipsed by a golden Sunday and
dumped unceremoniously into grey Monday.
Tuesday will likely be white.
I wish I hadn’t spent all my colors last Wednesday.

Kale is the Key to My Heart

Tea mug is always clean, 

Hot sauce never runs out, 

All my bagel needs are met. 

No diamonds, but should I desire 

Kale at midnight, you would 

Shop your heart out for me.