where green ivy vines surround the window,
spirits come in from indigo hours
looking for words kept in earthen jars
in the yellow kitchen with the rose-colored counters.
We keep a coffee pot of enamel
cream yellow to soothe late hour drowsers
unseen and hungry for a kiss, a ribbon, a caramel,
in the yellow kitchen with the rose-colored counters
where green ivy vines surround the window.
Mornings as easily as ghosts arrive, like spring snow
collected on sills as the May-crow appears
in the yellow kitchen with the rose-colored counters
where green ivy vines surround the window
and spirits come in from indigo hours.
There is Mucha on the walls, Parrish on a matchbook
in the yellow kitchen with the rose-colored counters
where green ivy vines surround the window,
and spirits come in from indigo hours
looking for words in earthen jars of cinnamon sticks, brown sugar, and flour.
_______
The kitchen of the heart always has something simmering--here a very soothing, yet bittersweet cup, that won't spill when your hand shakes, but has shadows lapping its rim. Lovely mood, dream-like imagery, and that cascade sort of form, that makes it sound like a benevolent spirit might be whispering it in your ear because you need to hear it. I also love the tactile way the colors come forward. Just a beautiful piece, Shay.
ReplyDeleteI love the repetition and growth of this Shay! All the warmth of nurturing shines bright here even with the subtle feel of something to be lost in the giving. Beautiful and wistful. I love it!!
ReplyDeleteAn utterly gorgeous poem - and a new look to your blog! Wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThis has a fragile beauty to it.. the magical moment caught unawares in the yellow kitchen. I imagine 'a certain slant of light', a kind of bliss. I love the repetition of lines and phrases, and how it all comes together in the end. So inspiring, Shay.
ReplyDeleteMakes me wish I had more time for my own poetry.
Beautiful poem, I like that shifting rhyme! JIM
ReplyDeleteThe flow of warmth and kindness is so inviting : 'looking for words in earthen jars of cinnamon sticks, brown sugar, and flour.'....World needs more such words. So beautiful.
ReplyDeleteIn 'The Odyssey' when our intrepid hero went among the dead for intel, he poured black bull's blood in a trough, knowing ghosts found such hooch deelightful. And so and o they sang ... Much preferable this red-countered yellow kitchen, adorned, welcoming, memorable (I heard Graham Nash singing in the cupboard to Joni Mitchell's cat) and outfit for cooking poems. Sweet and intimate and toasty-ghostly.
ReplyDeleteOh, you took me there! Lovely....
ReplyDeleteI'll just pop over for a cuppa!
(Kim , The Cheesellers Wife here)
Soothing, beautiful, and inimitably you.
ReplyDeleteBack for another mesmerizing read. I love that repeated first line.
ReplyDeleteI like this, the repeated line and how the others play off each other, almost hypnotic."Nothing but in things" and your reader can see the colors, enter the kitchen for a caramel.
ReplyDeleteI really love the warm and inviting image you painted... but for me, I immediately saw the yellow bedroom by van Gogh... and that was as from his asylum (I know it's only me)
ReplyDeleteThe symbolism of yellow screams to the reader but, I feel a bit nervous about the yellow kitchen. Though soothing at first, I wonder with the repetition if there is a darker meaning? It could just be me.
ReplyDelete