The Poetry Stash: 10April2024

It’s Shaped Like A Fork by Olena Kalytiak Davis

Today’s poem is “It’s Shaped Like A Fork” by Olena Kalytiak Davis from the collection And Her Soul Out Of Nothing. The book is available for purchase here.

It’s Shaped Like A Fork by Olena Kalytiak Davis

This house is a mess. Full
of solid notions
that keep turning into objects:
this simple sadness
that’s shaped like a fork
and vague fear that crusts
these dishes. I’m vacuuming
over this grass-like pain.
Emptying pockets for the wash:
such a burden: not just wrappers
but keys and mints, those sticky
and sorrow-coated stones.
And this larger grief
that always needs to be folded.

All day I’ve been chewing
on my own acrid gloom,
trying to put away
the things you keep carrying
home from work: the possessions
of children and women
and drunks, stolen or cheated,
the tasteless unhappiness
of others into jars labeled:
Heartbreak, Injustice,
Just-Plain-Bad-Fucking-Luck.

Prompts:

1.	Begin with “This house is a …”
2.	Begin with “tasteless unhappiness…”
3.	Draft a poem in which “solid notions” like emotional states, abstractions become concrete “objects”.
4.	Draft a poem that explores ordinary tasks like cleaning, filing, running errands, grocery shopping.

5. Photo by cottonbro studio via pexels.com. Use image as a writing prompt.

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