WHAT IT'S LIKE

I had thought it must be like
having random pages torn out,
so it becomes difficult to remember
character names, plots, and settings,
until one night, washing dishes together,
her muscle memory smoothly
moving her from sink to cupboard,
she stopped in the middle of drying
the large stainless steel colander
she had bought years before
and said, “You know how sometimes,
at a party, you’ll be in the kitchen
talking to someone for a long time
and when you go back out
everyone has left without you
knowing it.  You had thought
they were still there, and the party
was still going strong, and then
when you go into the living room,
you suddenly feel  as if . . . as if . . .” 
She stood and turned the colander
in her hands, then, after a moment,
she put it back in the sink as if deciding
that probably was a safe choice
for something like that, whatever it was.




About Joe Mills:
A faculty member at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Joe Mills has published three collections of poetry with Press 53:  "Love and Other Collisions," "Angels, Thieves, and Winemakers," and "Somewhere During the Spin Cycle."  In April 2012, the press will release his fourth book, "Sending Christmas Cards to Huck and Hamlet."