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Sunday, June 22, 2014

Nancyrose Houston: "The Letter from Home"


















The dogs barked, the dogs scratched, the dogs got wet, the
dogs shook, the dogs circled, the dogs slept, the dogs ate,
the dogs barked; the rain fell down, the leaves fell down, the
eggs fell down and cracked on the floor; the dust settled,  
the wood floors were scratched, the cabinets sat without
doors, the trim without paint, the stuff piled up; I loaded the
dishwasher, I unloaded the dishwasher, I raked the leaves,
I did the laundry, I took out the garbage, I took out the
recycling, I took out the yard waste.  There was a bed, it was
soft, there was a blanket, it was warm, there were dreams,
they were good. The corn grew, the eggplant grew, the
tomatoes grew, the lettuce grew, the strawberries grew, the
blackberries grew; the tea kettle screamed, the computer
keys clicked, the radio roared, the TV spoke. “Will they ever
come home?” “Can’t I take a break?” “How do others keep
their house clean?” “Will I remember this day in fifty years?”
The sweet tea slipped down my throat, the brownies melted
in my mouth. My mother cooked, the apple tree bloomed, the
lilac bloomed, the mimosa bloomed, I bloomed.



"The Letter from Home" by Nancyrose Houston, from Wake Up In Brightness: Poetry & Prose by Students 2008-2009. © Seattle Arts & Lectures, 2009.  

Art credit: "Mimosa Flowers," photograph by chicken.


1 comment :

  1. I love this! It inspires me to want to write something like this about one of my days. So wonderful that it was written by a student. I went looking for more information on her and found that as of 2022 she's a graduate student and has already accomplished some wonderful things: https://jsis.washington.edu/global/people/nancyrose-houston/.

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