Friday, July 5, 2024

The big picture April 15, 2012

 


She slices the vegetables

With sharp, harsh strokes,

Each blow a snap against

The cutting board,

As if she is thinking

She is slicing something else,

A cool spring morning

Turning to a bitter chill

Inside, and I don’t know why.

I’m too scared to ask

What might be wrong,

Or to divert her attention

From each stroke, fearing

She might slice off her finger

Or mine, by accident,

Or something else on purpose,

Her gaze focused downward

Though she seems not to see

The vegetables she is cutting,

And I think she’s enraged at me,

Something I said or worse

Something I should have said,

Or accomplished, some gift

Of life I should have provided,

Yet in my ignorance have not,

Snap goes each piece

Of this breakfast puzzle,

A jig saw being dismantled

So might never get to see

The big picture

After all.

 


email to Al Sullivan

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