The Visitation
My mother had a red kitchen
with apple and strawberry plates
before her kitchen was red it was pink
but her life was not rosy
My father had two answers
when asked ‘how are you?’
A good day answer was
“I got out of bed
I’m ahead of the game”
A bad day answer was
“It’s a rocky boat”
When he rocked the boat
my mother helped steady it
My father was fun-loving
and my mother got things done
My kitchens are blue
like the delft blue platter
that my grandmother carried
from Ireland to America
when she was 13 years old and alone
Not blue like stormy weather
but like the quilted jumper
I wore in the first grade
that my mother dressed me in
for school picture day
I imagine my mother’s kitchen
still existing somewhere in time
after the big bang
and near a bright galaxy
that a giant telescope can see
The sun pours in on my dad
who is sitting in his favorite chair
at the red gingham covered table
He’s ahead of the game
he no longer plays
My mother picks lilacs
from her pink kitchen days
while I sing my heart out
to Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush
I watch from a distance
closer than I seem
until I blink like a blue star
bound by its orbit
until I pass like a dream
in my mother’s deep sleep
__________Colleen Redman / Poets and Storytellers United
April 14th, 2022 3:12 pm
I love how you conjure up the past in the present moment, and make it seem so vivid!
April 14th, 2022 3:31 pm
Thefe is a whole life, ior many, in this poem…where nostalgia becomes an art…the mood and atmosphere so strong….really poetry with impact, and almost a novel…
April 14th, 2022 5:11 pm
Such a beautiful reflective poem. So many wonderful details make it come alive. I especially like these lines
“My kitchens are blue
like the delft blue platter
that my grandmother carried
from Ireland to America
when she was 13 years old and alone
Not blue like stormy weather
but like the quilted jumper
I wore in the first grade
that my mother dressed me in
for school picture day”
April 14th, 2022 9:50 pm
I love your images and colors in your poem. Your memories and dreams of your parents in the next life is a nice touch at the end of your pome.
April 15th, 2022 12:55 am
“I got out of bed
I’m ahead of the game” – that’s it… that’s perfect.. my mantra too though I didn’t have quite these words!
April 15th, 2022 4:34 am
Beautiful! I feel I know them now, and that kitchen too.
April 15th, 2022 8:24 am
I love the use of color in this. LOL, people paint the past in faded tones but you made the memories as vivid as the red kitchen you described.
April 15th, 2022 9:48 am
This radiates with a delicious mellow atmosphere. A great tribute to your early home life made more melancholy with space and time.
April 15th, 2022 11:30 am
This is totally charming, and transports your readers to your mother’s kitchen in a most delightful way. Well done!
April 15th, 2022 11:37 am
Beautifully shared, CR. Thanks.
April 15th, 2022 1:29 pm
You could’ve been talking about my parents, Colleen. 🙂 You remind me why not to stop writing. Thank you.
April 16th, 2022 4:41 am
I imagine my mother’s kitchen
still existing somewhere in time
after the big bang
and near a bright galaxy
that a giant telescope can see.
Beautiful lines. Lovely poem.
April 16th, 2022 3:22 pm
This is beautiful.
April 17th, 2022 3:48 am
The colours in the poem only makes it more poignant, and vivid. Beautiful.
April 17th, 2022 4:31 pm
I imagine this kitchen as it would exist in that faraway dimension where one can escape to.
April 20th, 2022 12:22 pm
You have pulled off quite the feat … transported me back to my great-grandmother’s kitchen which (unbelievably) was pretty much all red. Tablecloths, dinner plates, glasses, a red rug in front of her sink. Thank you, thank you for this most delightful, delectable poem.
April 21st, 2022 9:46 am
Evocative and sweet. Impressive