The Broken Promise

by Janet I. Buck

I promised you, I know, I know—
I'd wash a gravel pile of clothes
growing out the hinge-less door.
Make fresh croutons spiced
with dill, clean the fridge,
trim the mold from bricks of cheese,
iron something in the basket
sitting there since August, 1963.
Pay the bills, dust the faces
of antiques, bathe the dog,
sweep the sidewalk,
brush down cobwebs
from the closet, cook
a decent meal for once.

You come home to scattered love
smattered on alabaster tomes
of pages lingering in "us."
Your wrinkled dress shirt,
laced with sprays of my perfume.
Sleeves rolled up like
prairie corn that's headed
for a steaming pot.
I promised you, I know, I know—
You'll pair socks and I'll be wings
that mess them up, walking
in their holes and stains.
There are just times
when art's a nose of silhouette.
I do not want to leave this life
without dragging my fingers
slowly down your face and mine
as aging sets its wrinkles in.
The miniscule will have to wait.
You come home to spoondrift chaos,
knowing that the sea was there.

Janet Buck's poetry, poetics, and fiction have appeared in The Pedestal Magazine, Poetry Magazine.com, CrossConnect, The Pittsburgh Quarterly, Kimera, The Rose & Thorn, 2River View, Southern Ocean Review, Disquieting Muses, Urban Spaghetti, Perihelion, Mind Fire, Born Magazine, pif, 3rd Muse, Verse Libre Quarterly, Big Bridge, pith and hundreds of journals world-wide. Buck was one of U.S. poets to be featured at the "One Heart, One World" Exhibit at the United Nations Exhibit Hall in New York City in April, 2000. In January 2001, Art Villa Records released Janet's first audio CD of poetry and music called Before the Rose. It is available at: http://www.artvilla.com/shopping/poetry/rose.htm To hear a sample from the CD, go to: http://www.artvilla.com/mp3/umbrellas.mp3.
Note: Featured author in January 2001
E-mail: JBuck22874@aol.com
Writing interests: Poetry
Poems: "The Orphan", "Caught in Lesser Tragedies", "The Broken Promise", "The Gargoyle", "The Going", "The Bag Lady", "Rushing Toward Entelechy", "The Paralyzed Apocalypse", "Frozen Sonnets", "New York, New York", "Live on CNN", "America Under Siege", "Gutter Balls"
Links: Hot Links: Janet I. Buck, Janet's Latest Interview, Desideratum's Doggie Dish, Author's Den, Active Amp.org—Features Janet I. Buck, Poetry Magazine.Com-October-Janet Buck, The Part-time Postmodernist (August 2000), San Francisco Salvo, Moongate: Janet I. Buck, Offcourse, The October Country , Cafe Society: Poetry Life & Times, Kookamonga Square, The Adirondack Review , janetbuck.com, Funky Dog Publishing—Janet Buck's Strawberry Nipples, Athens Avenue—Janet I. Buck, One World-One Heart Exhibit , Ygdrasil: Issue 9 September 2000