Nan's Girl

it hasn't been used
for decades
has always sat on a a shelf
in every house i've ever lived in
a hint of  coffee still lingers
in the  little drawer
hi nan!

grinding the beans
was one of my jobs
when i stayed with her
all of us
have our prints
on that handle
her grandmother
her mother
her sisters
my mother
her
me

today i took it down
to give it a long overdue dusting
i didn't put it back
instead
i sank back into a sofa
wrapped my hands around it
held it close to me
and
cried my eyes out


A poem can come out of something seen, something overheard, listening to music, an article in a newspaper, a book, a combination of all of these... There's a kind of emotional release that I find in the act of writing the poem. It's not " I'm going to sit down and write a poem about this. " 

Adrienne Rich ( 1929 - 2012 )