Kelley White
Practice Random Acts of Sweetness
—for an apron is just a cape on backwards
How many dozen dozens of oatmeal
chocolate chip cookies did we bake
oh my darlings, through how many years
when we hoped peace could be won
by a wooden spoon and a few broken eggs?
and all the time my own world
was shattering, losing your father’s
love, my self-worth, my pride. How many
dozen dozens of chocolate chip cookies
did I eat, angry and alone, full of hunger
no one, not even you, dear lights, could
sate? And now years go by and I do not
use my mother’s golden bowl, her beloved
red handled egg beater, her mixer, her
grandmother’s trivet, her father’s chicken
and chicks tureen. If it is not good
to drink alone, what of eating alone?
What if there is no other, what if alone
is one’s only choice?
Pediatrician Kelley White has worked in inner city Philadelphia and rural New Hampshire. Her poems have appeared in Exquisite Corpse, Rattle and JAMA. Her recent books are TOXIC ENVIRONMENT (Boston Poet Press) and TWO BIRDS IN FLAME (Beech River Books). She received a 2008 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant.
—for an apron is just a cape on backwards
How many dozen dozens of oatmeal
chocolate chip cookies did we bake
oh my darlings, through how many years
when we hoped peace could be won
by a wooden spoon and a few broken eggs?
and all the time my own world
was shattering, losing your father’s
love, my self-worth, my pride. How many
dozen dozens of chocolate chip cookies
did I eat, angry and alone, full of hunger
no one, not even you, dear lights, could
sate? And now years go by and I do not
use my mother’s golden bowl, her beloved
red handled egg beater, her mixer, her
grandmother’s trivet, her father’s chicken
and chicks tureen. If it is not good
to drink alone, what of eating alone?
What if there is no other, what if alone
is one’s only choice?
Pediatrician Kelley White has worked in inner city Philadelphia and rural New Hampshire. Her poems have appeared in Exquisite Corpse, Rattle and JAMA. Her recent books are TOXIC ENVIRONMENT (Boston Poet Press) and TWO BIRDS IN FLAME (Beech River Books). She received a 2008 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant.