Mother Dishwasher

Mother Dishwasher

Self-Potrait with Cabin, ©2008-2014.

Dishwasher

Last night’s leftovers
luxuriate in the sink.
Dirty dishes,
unwind in bubbles
thick as cumulus clouds,
play footsies with the forks.
Take me away they say.

Steamy water blandishes the
sludge from a plate of family life,
coaxes peanut butter stuck to spoons,
battles the resistant forces of
the coagulated congeal
in a forgotten cup.

It bemoans
its miserable fate,
the dishwasher,
and longs to be avenged
of its quotidian qualities.

Yet as the water circles
the drain,
it does recall
where balance is:
in this moment.
Even in the sink.

Sarah Figlio