Thursday, August 23, 2007

today

The prompt from Poetry Thursday this week is to write a poem using the last line of a previous one. The line comes from this poem. Here is my offering:

Today

Marking time until daybreak
in Frasier reruns and infomercials,
I doze in-and-out of late night TV:
this is the day you come home.

I don’t sleep well alone.
I don’t awake well, either.

The pups bookend my body
as I stretch out on the couch,
missing you in dog days
without benefit of explanation.

They know only to hate suitcases;
they are not pack animals.

It’s not that you have been gone long,
it’s that you have been gone.
It’s not that I can’t live without you,
it’s that I don’t want to.

It’s daylight and Gracie runs upstairs
convinced she will find you.

“She’ll be home tonight,” I say
as she slinks back and sits at my feet.
Lola lays heavy on your purple pillow.
Pining is exhausting work.

The day feels like a week for us all.
I pour my coffee and leave yours in the pot.

For better or for worse, we said --
for richer and for poorer.
I want to go back and add one simple line:
for bed and for breakfast.
Peace,
Milton

15 comments:

etcetera said...

This is great, you create really visible image and emotion.

Carolee said...

i LOVE this! it is sentimental (which i usually shy away from) but it is sentimental in a great way. it tells a terrific story and i want to hear more!

Anonymous said...

I like poems which are vidid and tell us a story. Yours does.

Sr. Heather said...

Oh, how WONDERFUL, Milton! I especially liked the two stanzas
They know only to hate suitcases;
they are not pack animals.

It’s not that you have been gone long,
it’s that you have been gone.
It’s not that I can’t live without you,
it’s that I don’t want to.


... and of course "for bed and for breakfast" is a winner, too. Now I want to know the poem that starts with that line. :-)

Peace and blessings,
Hedwyg

Crafty Green Poet said...

I enjoyed this especially the descriptions of the dogs 'not pack animals' indeed!

Anonymous said...

Others have already said it, but "not pack animals" is inspired imagery.

Anonymous said...

Oh, yes. I love this! It describes the pining so well.... I'm going to share it with my honey when we're both home tonight. :) "missing you in dog days/without benefit of explanation" - just lovely. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

Tumblewords: said...

Heart-jerking beautiful! Descriptive, vivid, evocative!

Constance Brewer said...

some sly lines in there that capture the dichotomy in a wonderful way. Very nice! I like this.

Anonymous said...

This poem is sweet and very true. When someone you love isn't home something just seems off - dogs, like humans are also very sensitive to this. Nice poem.

Pilgrim Path said...

This poem is PURE YOU and that's why I enjoyed it so much!

Anonymous said...

Milton -
I completely love this poem. You are amazing.

Lori said...

This is lovely. Oh to love and be loved like this. What a gift. And what a gift to share it with us.

Thanks.

Towanda said...

loved it, in part because it is exactly me...except for the dogs. In my poem they are cats...

Diane M. Roth said...

I love the last stanza... really, the whole thing, but the last stanza, really pulls it together. And I get the dogs (only have one, though, light of my life).