"Housework" Proudly Accepted by Blinking Cursor


Last week, I got an email from the editor of the literary magazine The Blinking Cursor, Samantha Rose. She was writing to inform me that the latest edition of The Blinking Cursor with my poem in it could be purchased on Lulu.com. I ordered mine right away and I can't wait for it to come!

According to my contract with the magazine, I do not have to wait to publish the poem elsewhere, so I can post it now.


Housework

I dip my hands into the steaming water and scrub

At bits of crusted-on cereal and the remnants of a thick green soup.

A bit of boiled egg floats by.

The water is already coffee-brown under the layer of bubbles.

I do not feel much like the plump sweet bride

You brought home only five years ago.

She had soft, clean hands.

I feel like an old fish-wife

with my hair pulled back tight

and my arid, bony hands immersed in dirty water.

I imagine your face when you open the flimsy trailer door

And see that I have finished the dishes.

I do not know who you see when you look at me,

The old fish-wife or the sweet, plump bride,

But I do know that you’ll be grateful that the dishes are done,

And that I am grateful I have someone to do dishes for.

Comments

  1. mamasitaJune 6, 2010 at 10:11 PM

    I especially love the picture that you put with the poem. It really looks like that at my house as you know. He sees his bride if you smile and are happy that he has come home.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sandra Rose HughesJune 7, 2010 at 7:37 AM

    I thought about looking online for a picture of a sink full of dishes, but then I thought...there's my sink- it's full of dishes. That is what it looks like right now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJune 7, 2010 at 12:30 PM

    I think doing dishes is something I will never grow accustomed to.

    ReplyDelete
  4. MargJune 8, 2010 at 12:55 PM

    That is a wonderful poem. I don't mind doing dishes, but I don't have many to wash. Just my own. So was glad to hear in the poem that you were glad to have someone to wash dishes for.
    And I also wanted to thank you so much for adopting a cat. That is terrific. One more has a home.
    Have a great week.

    ReplyDelete
  5. RyanJune 9, 2010 at 6:13 AM

    Congratulations on your poem being published, great news but did you really have to remind me about my sink full, thanks a lot.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Proudly Rejected by Calyx Journal.

Image
Two rejections in one week? Sigh. CALYX (A journal of Art and Literature by Women) sent me a very polite form letter today rejecting four of my poems. They wrote, "We appreciate the opportunity to review your submission and consider it for publication. At least two editors have read your work and found that we are unable to use your submission in the Journal. We apologize for replying with a form letter, but the volume of submissions no longer allows us the luxury of a personal reponse." I thought it was worded particularly well, and the editor actually wrote my first name on the top in real pen and signed the bottom. That's unique. I've never recieved a rejection letter where they signed it with real pen. So, Calyx Journal- I rate you FOUR STARS for class. Here is one of the poems they rejected. Maybe it's not subtle enough. I'm not very good at subtlety yet. Chrysalis A butterfly can’t return to her chrysalis No matter how fast the outside winds blow, No ma...
Read more

"Back to School" Proudly published by the Kern Valley Sun

Image
This week I had four different students tell me that they thought I was a "cool," "popular" teacher. Obviously, I have never shown them the above picture of myself. As you can see, I am one classy lady. I am a complete geek. Unfortunately, it's not in that, "I'm a geek, and I started my own multi-million dollar computer company" way that's really popular right now. I also wasn't a geek in the "I have poor hygiene, and other students throw their lunches at me" sort of way, thank goodness. I was the kind of geek who didn't watch R-Rated movies, looked a lot like Velma from Scooby Doo (I still do, in fact), really liked hanging out with their parents, was shocked by cussing, read 19th century novels for fun, spoke like a walking dictionary, and who teachers always really liked. Ergo, I became an English teacher. When I got to college, I learned that all of the above traits were actually strengths, which was a relief. Do the kids ...
Read more

Sure I'm trailer-trash- Do you have a problem with that?

Image
One of the hardest questions that has plagued my writing has simply been, "What do I write about?" I have often heard the advice, "Write about what you know." Well, when I started writing and really putting my mind to it, I was only twenty-one. Basically, all I knew was high school, college, and a few European countries I'd visited during college. I didn't have very much to say for myself. I made myself write anyway with some good results, but nothing really stellar. Starting this blog last year gave me an excellent lab to bounce my ideas off of readers. By far my most popular peices have been about the wacky situations I manage to get myself into. I'm not a stupid person, but sometimes....I do some very silly things. Anyway, I'm twenty-seven now and the past six years have helped me come up with some new ideas that I think will be very successful. My husband and I have been building our own home and living in a 30 foot trailer in my in-law's fr...
Read more