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Formica Makes a Passive Witness

The October poetry hoot featured readers Kathleen Aguero reading poems drawn from ancient and modern mythologies - from Persephone to Nancy Drew - and Rodger Martin, (accompanied by John Rule on guitar for a few pieces), a Monadnock poet whose poems concerning history read like their own mythology. The open mic session continued the energy set in the first hour with unexpected flute and trumpet performances and a diverse group of readers. As sometimes happens, an unintended theme appeared early on in many poems: Caffeine (very appropriate for the venue of Café Espresso). Though it is the lack of caffeine that acts as both a moment of surprising humor and irony in this poem:

Formica Makes a Passive Witness

She stopped loving me today,
over coffee and the morning news.
When the ham steaks were done, she slid
one for herself and let the other smolder.
She stopped listening to apologies
and started mincing her eggs,
grating silverware deep into Lenox china.
With a piercing stare she handed over black toast
spread with reprisal and stale butter.
She poured me one last cup,
decaf,
filled with the contents of the salt shaker
her mother had given us.

                                    - Todd Abernathy

The devil may be in the details, but so is the poetry. The specificity of this scene draws the reader/listener into the room where the details tell us about the relationship (Lenox china, the provenance of the salt shaker) and the woman's mood (ham steak smoldering, burned toast spread with reprisal as well as butter). The details don't tell us about the speaker's feelings. Remember that long-ago lecture on writing, "show, don't tell"? The narrator painstakingly presents this picture, but we have to sit down in that chair, receive the decaf, and feel it for ourselves.
                                                                                                  
                                                                                                       - Lesley Gaudreau


"Formica makes a Passive Witness" copyright 2005 by Todd Abernathy. Todd Abernathy joined the renewed ex-patriot artist movement of Americans in Europe from 1992-1997, writing in Italy, Crete, Sicily and the Maldives with a focus on relationships in definitive settings. Todd studied literature and poetry at UNH, holds a Robert Frost Fellowship from Middlebury College, and has been published in The Compass Rose and Thunderchild. He can be heard on the CD, "Esther Buffler and Friends, High on Poetry." Todd is currently enrolled at Chester College in the Creative Writing program, where he is compiling an eclectic collection for publication consideration.

Please note: Poems submitted to this column should not exceed nineteen lines.


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