Simple Things Give Me Pause

When the milk curdles
in my coffee
I make tea
instead. It’s warm
amber slips
down my throat
like mamma tucking
in my sleeping body.
Pink and blue china
flowers fit
perfectly in my palm,
dance ring-around-the-rosy
in my memory
of forgotten voices
heard only
in dreams, blurry faces
tied
to paper and glue.
For now, only
cookies are missing
in my reminiscent tableau.
In my pantry
flour, sugar, pecans
wait in vain
for phantom hands.

*

Prompt via The Wombwell Rainbow

Art by Kerfe Roig