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Early 21st Century Erma

by Alison McKenzie

I’ve decided it starts with shoes,
The chaos that creeps into a home
And makes life feel like
It’s spinning out of control -
One day, in a hurry,
Taken off and abandoned behind a chair,
Or under the coffee table,
And before you know it,
Junk mail on the table and the empty delivery pizza box;
A stray glass of orange juice, drunk on the run;
Yesterday’s homework
And a prop from last week’s school play
That really doesn’t have a place to belong
In a house stuffed with teenagers
And mutts,
A demented grandmother
And the mice that found a morsel in the kitchen,
And the ants that seem to be attracted rather than repelled
By the cruelty free device bought to send them away
Without killing them;
And me, here to help everyone make sense of it
But never really quite keeping up
Erma Bombeck of the new millennium
Sans the marriage and the wisdom.

03/17/2008

Author's Note: If I could just stop the shoes....

Posted on 03/17/2008
Copyright © 2024 Alison McKenzie

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by David Garner on 03/17/08 at 04:58 PM

Ah, so true. It does start with the shoes. I understand every syllable of this poem. It's a brilliant first line. And the specifics throughout are so rich. Into my faves!

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