To Make a Living
{An Umbrella Special Feature}


Kevin Walzer

is the author of three books of poetry, including Greater Circles and Austere Offices.  His critical book, The Ghost of Tradition: Expansive Poetry and Postmodernism (Story Line Press, 1998), was named an Outstanding Book by Choice Magazine.

He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with his wife Lori Jareo.  Together they run WordTech Communications LLC, a poetry publisher.


—Back to Work Poetry Contents—

The Father in the Kitchen

The end of days.
                                        The greasy sauce that’s seared
to the stovetop; the crusted plates; the weird
thickening liquid of water, ash, and grease
that pools in stainless steel pans; the crease
of wrinkled flesh on fingers.
                                                                Night after night
my day is punctuated by this sight.
The baby’s bowl, thick with mashed-up pears.
His mother’s plate, the scraps arranged in layers.
To scrub the grease and rinse the sticky plates,
to wipe each fork and cup until it’s late
and nearly time for bed:
                                                          this work is plain
and regular as sauce that leaves a stain.

 

From Austere Offices (Word Press, 2005)



 
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