Straight Lines

I try to mow a straight line.
Every blade of grass I see you in front of me.
Up, down, up, down.
Straight lines.
The house looms largely on the horizon.

It is taking minutes, seconds, hours.
A minuscule amount of time in my life, in eternity, in the universe, in infinity
To make this lawn look good for you.

Up, down. Up, down. Up, down.

Fire in the Kitchen

"There's a fire in the kitchen!" I said softly and dully to my brother and sister while staring eerily up the stairs.

They looked up the stairs towards the kitchen which was beyond view of where we were and looked back at the TV. "You're crazy." I think my brother muttered, perturbed that he had been interrupted by this unsubstantiated claim.

A few minutes later, my mother got up from her comfortable 5 o'clock chair position in the living room where she and dad read the newspaper while sipping on their Manhattans every night. Into the kitchen she went to check on dinner. "Dad! Fire!" We all heard her cry of distress.

Dad got up from his comfortable 5 o'clock position, went into the kitchen, grabbed the cast iron skillet that was aflame, and threw it out the front door, burning his hand with the hot grease.

All of our hearts pounded.

Scandinavian Mid-Century Modern

It catches your eye

A design you haven’t seen before

Unique, seductive, wry

You desire it

To add to your collection

It gives you a lift

You share it with friends

Admire and cherish it

Display it proudly

You caress it ever so gently

With admiration

You clean it, make it shine

It makes you smile

But as time passes

It starts to lose its appeal

The glimmer you once saw in it loses its luster

You place it on your shelf

With the rest of your collection

It becomes dusty, and unadmired

It sits among other pieces

Once loved and cherished

Still owned but neglected

You take it down once in a while

Gaze at it, dust it off

Reminded of its beauty

But you wonder what you saw in it to begin with

You never promised to keep it

It’s not as great as you once thought

You consider getting rid of it

You search for a replacement

Something new you haven’t seen before