The following is poem number 3 of 2009′s NaPoWriMo – 30 poems in 30 days during the month of April.

CORD OF WOOD FOR CHEAP

I start scouring for wood in mid summer
so there’s enough to burn through the long rain.
A friend told me so and so knew a woman
who had a cord she needed to get rid of,
a bit of a drive but the price was good
and I beat everyone else to the pile outside her house.

No one home, just a note that said slip cash
through the mail slot – the house had that
disordered feel of people in the middle
of a move, boxes where end tables should be,
stray toys, the shelves mostly bare, couch
at an angle to the wall. I got most of the wood
in one load, left half the money and a note
I’d be back.

The next day the woman was there, a short
slender thing dragging a chair under the car port,
building a stack out front with a sign that read
FREE – good things, golf clubs, a weight bench
stuff I figured was her husband’s. It was,

except he was gone, split like they do on TV,
left a note at the start of spring
on an afternoon like this – left her the mortgage,
three kids – boys – all the wood she couldn’t light
without him there. Sent a check, a note
that said get rid of what got left and that was it.

She tried for a while but the mortgage was too much,
the oldest boy keeps finding fights, the youngest
with a lisp now, the middle just runs away.
Please take it all she says – I pay for the rest
of the cord, give her something extra for the clubs.
On my way home I stop at a driving range, buy
a bucket of balls but can’t hit anything far enough
to feel good.

(NOTE: The original prompt was “three children, one mother, where’s the father”)

Tags: a poem a day, NaPoWriMo 2009, National Poetry Month

This entry was posted on Friday, April 3rd, 2009 at 6:59 am and is filed under NaPoWriMo, off a prompt, poetry. Both comments and pings are currently closed.