I find myself without anything much to say today but I am trying to maintain what is working and is good for me. Some of that includes sustaining a connection with this lovely community, so I've got a poem to share with you. Another thing that is working for me is spending time at my kitchen table - watching the birds, enjoying the sun, planning what I might want to cook, and thinking I really do need to scrub the kitchen floor. Maybe someday I'll actually do it.
Perhaps the World Ends Here
by Joy Harjo
by Joy Harjo
The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live.
The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation, and it will go on.
We chase chickens or dogs away from it. Babies teethe at the corners. They scrape their knees under it.
It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be human. We make men at it, we make women.
At this table we gossip, recall enemies and the ghosts of lovers.
Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our children. They laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves and as we put ourselves back together once again at the table.
This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun.
Wars have begun and ended at this table. It is a place to hide in the shadow of terror. A place to celebrate the terrible victory.
We have given birth on this table, and have prepared our parents for burial here.
At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow. We pray of suffering and remorse. We give thanks.
Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laughing and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.====Harjo, Joy. "Perhaps the World Ends Here". The Woman Who fell From the Sky. W.W. Norton and Co., 1994.
You can read more about Joy Harjo here. ====I'm hoping there is peace and acceptance at your kitchen tables. 
I love this poem! I think I actually chose it for one of our April selections, and I am happy to revisit it. I hope you're using poetry to heal your troubled soul these hard days.
ReplyDeleteThis community is THE BEST! Bonny, I was thinking about this very poem this morning while I made coffee. I was thinking I needed to pull it out and read it because this poem settles all the feelings... so perfectly. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing it on a morning when I really needed it. XO
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bonny. As isolated as I am, it is so reassuring that this community remains intact and supportive of one another. This poem makes me feel all the feels and reminds me of all the sacred spaces we have in our homes and hearts that no one can take from us. Perfect poem for me today and all my tomorrows.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely poem (and new to me). I love the line: "Our dreams drink coffee with us..."
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, hooray for this community we have. It is uplifting and just comforting to know that our community is here. Thanks for sharing this poem Bonny.
beautiful and what a pretty photo!!
ReplyDeleteThankfully, my kitchen table has been harmonious in recent years... now if I could just keep all the STUFF off it!!
ReplyDeleteThat gave me all the feels. I had to drive 10 hours away from my son and Grands this week and I've been living in the past ever since. I miss having a family around the table. I miss a sink full of dirty dishes and a floor that needs scrubbing. We are never all together anymore making messes and memories and it feels terrible.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry. I remember complaining about that sink full of dirty dishes, the dirty floor, and the frequent squabbling around the kitchen table. There are days that I wish I had it all back. I'm also lucky enough to have everyone here a few days each year (Thanksgiving & Christmas) and i wish you could have that also.
DeleteThis is a great poem. The kitchen table we use belong to Dale's grandparents and I often think about all the conversations and meals and decisions and more that happened at that table.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have a kitchen table anymore ... and I miss it. Especially this part "Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our children."
ReplyDeleteI love the photograph of your table and the image of you sitting enjoying the sunshine and the birds and not worrying about the kitchen floor. The poem is beautiful. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThat's such a perfect poem -- and especially for These Days. I think that holding on to routine - and the things we like best - is going to be what gets us through. ( I need to get to my floor, too. Somehow just keep putting it off. Maybe we should make a pact????) (Maybe to scrub. Maybe to ignore.) ;-)
ReplyDelete