Perfectly happy
in her narrow galley kitchen,
she planed to outgrow it.
The oversized refrigerator
became her gallery of sorts.
Photos of him taped to the door,
ultimately yanked off in anger
before the catsup was even gone.
New boys appeared and disappeared,
friends she planned to feed into lovers.
Time emptied the tape dispenser.
No boys, just gummy residue.
So she walked in the rain one day
going store to store, on a magnet spree.
Colorful dots. Hearts. Fanciful sayings.
Two bright rainbows.
And one empty royal blue photo frame
she stuck on the far-right upper corner
of the freezer door.
She was, after all, an optimist
through and through.
I’m hosting dVerse today, the virtual pub for poets. It’s Tuesday Poetics and I’m asking folks to walk into their kitchen and peruse their refrigerator! Look inside. Look at the outside. What do you see that strikes your imagination that can be a jumping off point for a poem! Describe an object or use it somehow in a poem. Our refrigerator doors have always been a “gallery” of sorts with magnets and photos and sayings. So, looking at ours, I made up a young woman who uses her refrigerator door in somewhat the same way.
Pub opens at 3 PM Boston time. Come visit and chill out with us today!
I love the optimism… She probably have the magnetic poetry kit (love edition) too.
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I’m sure she picked that up in her shopping spree! 🙂
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I love this line so much: “Time emptied the tape dispenser.”
Then the last several lines, especially this:
“So she walked in the rain one day
going store to store, on a magnet spree.
Colorful dots. Hearts. Fanciful sayings.”
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Glad you enjoyed! 🙂 It was a fun one to write.
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What a delightful piece!
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Thank you! Somehow, I felt like being light-hearted today 🙂 Glad you enjoyed.
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ha ha, I love this poem.
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Glad you enjoyed! Fun to provide some chuckles once in a while 🙂
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Oh, this is such fun to read and a familiar scene – the fridge as a gallery. I love the lines:
‘Time emptied the tape dispenser.
No boys, just gummy residue’.
I have a fridge magnet that says: ‘The more I know about men, the more I love my cat’!
Hooray for optimists!
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Glad you enjoyed, Kim. I had fun writing this one….creating another person. It’s been fun to read the takes on this prompt. Many chose the haibun route. I do think a fridge is a repository…of memories, likes, dislikes….almost a diary when you think about it!
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At least she brightened up the fridge 🙂
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Yes, indeed! Thanks for stopping by, Jane…and for participating in the prompt.
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🙂
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Such fun. the ‘gummy residue’ is so poignant and the ‘gallery of sorts’ is a wonderful pun.
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Glad you enjoyed! I do believe a fridge is a respository…of memories, likes, dislikes. Fun to peek inside the posts of dVerse folks for this one! Glad you stopped by and glad you posted too.
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This is clever and cute and I think you should pitch it to the networks for prime time!
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Oh my! Thanks, Jilly. I did enjoy creating this character. I guess I really do believe a refrigerator is a respository of memories, likes, dislikes, and sometimes even a diary! 🙂
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A game show: The Empty Frame. No, a tragic sitcom… How I Didn’t Meet Your Father. I loved the set-up of this poem.
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Thanks for the smile this morning, Charley! Sipping my coffee reading your response. Love the Empty Frame idea….kind of a diary of her love life — inside and outside the fridge!
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It could be big! A big, double fridge!
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I liked this line: “friends she planned to feed into lovers”
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Thanks, Frank. After I read it aloud, I almost changed it thinking it made her sound like a vampire! LOL
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Nice BLOG!!! ADD my blog too!!! Kisses ❤ ❤ ❤
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Thanks for stopping by. Glad you enjoyed!
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They say the road to a man’s heart is through his tummy. Maybe she wasn’t a good paver.
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Hah! Good response 🙂 I do think the refrigerator door of many becomes a diary — or somewhat of a Facebook wall! 🙂
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That’s the one part I never clean off, unless something really bad spilled there
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This was fun to read. Fridges have multiple uses.
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Indeed they do…a repository of sorts…diary…memories…likes…dislikes…chilly facebook of friends LOL
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An very enjoyable read. I must be related, my refrigerator door is covered with images of family held in place by various magnets. ❤
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Hah! A chilly Facebook wall 🙂
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What a great read! After reading the prompt at dVerse, I’d expected something on your refrigerator but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I love optimistic people 🙂
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Optimistic…..the only way to be! 🙂 That’s why I decided to rejuvenate rather than retire!
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People have distinct tastes when it comes to their choice of magnets. Optimism is universal and brightens the kitchen, as you say, but who’s face Will fill the empty blue frame? 🙂
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That’s the big question, right? I had fun with the write. Sometimes it feels good to just create some other character as I write…another person from my imagination. I do however, think that a refrigerator door and even the contents of the fridge, can tell a lot about a person!
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I love (and kind of fear) her relentless optimism. You’ve created someone real here – I feel like I know her just from this.
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Hah! She came alive for me as I penned out the piece. Sometimes I enjoy “creating” other people with words. They’re very easy and fun to dress! 🙂
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Excellent! 🥀🥀🥀😎😎😎
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Thanks!
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I love how the fridge shows how her life changes
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Exactly. It’s her diary of sorts 🙂
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I love how your poem reads like an optimistic New York story!
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Funny you should say that….in the first write, one of the magnets mentioned in the poem was I Heart New York…….but it was dropped in the final writing. Glad you enjoyed!
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Delightful! And we were kind of on the same page…but maybe a different paragraph. 🙂
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Yep! 🙂 So glad you enjoyed and posted too!
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‘no boys, just gummy residue’ – what a great line! This is a fun prompt, Lillian.
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Glad you enjoyed! 🙂
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