August 15: Extra Post, Sneak Peek, "What Auntie Em Did"

Because I have been absent for so long, I'm going to do a few extra posts in the following days, to catch up.  Today, I am in Calumet to do a show at the Calumet Theatre this evening.  One part of the show is a parody of The Wizard of Oz.  I wrote a poem for that portion of the show.  This is a sneak peek of tonight's performance, I guess.

I think that this poem is good.  It's about issues that I've been dealing with a lot recently.  The struggles of love, I guess I could call it.  If you heard me read this poem on Monday night, it's been revised.  A lot. 

Saint Marty hopes it's decent.

What Auntie Em Did

by:  Martin Achatz

The day Dorothy disappeared 

into the cornstalks, Emily plumped

the pillow on Dorothy's bed, smoothed

the hand-stitched quilt over the straw

tick mattress, stooped to pick up

a blue hair ribbon from the plank

floor.  After that, she went to the kitchen,

rolled out a pie crust, peeled, sliced

tart apples into a tin, sprinkled them

with sugar, cinnamon, draped them

with dough, fluted the edges into waves,

put it into the stove to bake.

Emily washed the dishes right away,

the way her mother taught her,

left them to dry on a cloth

near the sink.  Then, because she couldn't

think of anything else to busy with,

she pushed the screened door

open, stepped onto the porch,

stood staring into the green

sky, waited for the smell of cooking

apples to draw love back to her,

like a moth dizzy for flames,

a newborn crazed for colostrum,

a cyclone slurping houses

down its ruby-slippered throat.