Garden, Arbor House, Black Mountain, NCa day in the life
mrs heartwell gathers
flowers from her garden
irises her daughter's namesake
in lavender and peach
purpleblue lilacs
the scent of spring
white roses
just beginning to unfold
she pulls a weed here
and there straightens
staked peonies
overflowing their space
like the river
when rain comes
in torrents spreading over
the edge of the meadow
in the kitchen she shapes
dough that rose
in early morning light
for crunchy loaves
mr hearwell likes to dip
in mushroom soup
rich gravy from pot roast
or slathered with butter
sweet raspberry jam
at one o'clock mrs heartwell
watches dramas on tv
that some call soaps
she doesn't understand why
wants to know if eva
will ditch adam why george
and gloria can't have kids
it sounds familiar
like she's heard it all before
but can't remember where
it could be on the phone
when she spoke with
widow greeves just yesterday
her neighbor so involved
in everyone's business
but her own
loves to spread stories
about cheating and guilt
even the heartwells
aren't spared
their catastrophic spats
described up and down the block
jzr
4 comments:
I just love your Mrs. Heartwell poems, the way you've brought everyday moments to life.
I love Mrs. Heartwell too! I can just picture her in her little world (so much like mine!) All of your poems make me smile and say "Ah, yes."
Gorgeous photo, too.
I am so glad to glimpse into Mrs. Heartwell's world; there's layers and layers of depth to glean through. The imagery is detailed and clean, and the attention to sound (the "o's" in the 3rd stanza, for instance) is confident and understated.
Awesome. I love the line breaks, I love the flow of the poem, one event into another. Really quite perfect.
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