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Kibitzing in the Kitchen

by Kristina Woodhill


I bumped into Sylvia Plath
while I was cleaning my oven the other day

my modern self-cleaning electric method
of dealing with the messy casseroles of living bubbling over

caught her attention;

we compared notes
on apple pies and seeping syrups

liquefied, occasionally, like our brains on broil instead of low roast,
drip, dripping onto oven racks

oh, and the burned stench of sugar coating, we agreed,
how lies spread and build up, spread and build up

escaping sloppily sealed pie-crust promises,
where all the little mind monkeys perch

waiting for the consistently perplexed
and the dangerously poised to stumble by,

before throwing poo all over their attempts
at grappling with what kind of hooks

might succeed in keeping
their nerve jangling kitchens

from tipping table
on ceiling fan

or keeping
trembling salt shakers
from diving
head first

02/06/2018

Posted on 02/06/2018
Copyright © 2024 Kristina Woodhill

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Chris Sorrenti on 02/06/18 at 06:58 PM

Although I'm not a big fan of Plath's work; more of an Anne Sexton fan...another suicide poetess, I'm familiar with Plath's basic tragic history. Your poem well penned. Winky-eye. Fun...funny tongue-in-cheek piece, Kristina.

Posted by Glenn Currier on 02/09/18 at 04:08 AM

I like it when some ordinary or routine activity captures my attention and causes me to say words to myself and then the words sound to me like a poem or poem title and if I am smarter than my goal-orientation, I sit down and start writing to see what happens. And If I am in the right frame of mind one thing leads to another and images start to flow and stack and bump up against each other and the words become a poem. When that happens it somehow feels like a deep breath of fresh cool air and I sigh one of those satisfying relaxing sighs. I don't know if that is how your poem evolved, but I do like the way you stack more profound meanings on top of the kitchen events. It popped my imagination and my heart. Thanks Kristina.

Posted by Clara Mae Gregory on 02/09/18 at 01:22 PM

*****STELLAR*****

Posted by George Hoerner on 04/21/18 at 01:08 AM

I love this almost as much as Sylvia Plath

Posted by Philip F De Pinto on 05/29/18 at 09:29 AM

I think you and she would have gotten along marvelously well. You have such a poetic way about you, I don't see how that kitchen of yours would not have accommodated both your talents and who knows, you may have made an immense difference in her life, enough that she may have thought twice and even thrice about the irrevocability of such acts as make us all succumb in some way, take us all under in some sense. Love your poem, Kristina.

Posted by Laura Doom on 06/26/18 at 11:22 PM

Delicious metaphoric meal, impressive Sylvia service, well-prepared curriculum. Looking forward to the end of term...

Posted by Robbi Skaera on 07/11/18 at 11:04 PM

This is haunting. Beautiful of course, incredibly well thought out. I think you'd have been kindred spirits.

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