Home Fires (WC)

(Wendy Cabell, February 11, feast day of (above) Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Corteza, World Day of the Sick, Saint Gobnata/Gobnet, Saint Caedmon, Holy Empress Theodora, Saint Blaise. On Jewish calendar today is Auschwitz Liberated (1945), passing of Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah Schneersohn (1942). Image from here.)

Home Fires

(grief’s current juncture)

Have I misunderstood mothering, wounds being cradled?

Not just sisterhood, it's more I seek --

home, welcoming light. Now a travel trailer.

I fuel with artmaking, bolster with clutter. 

And wonder, sometimes, why the fire fantasy, 

the quick now, just grab the essence! …a sideways glow? 

Some inward eavesdropping: 

Over here, Flo. Yeah, I like this table too. Careful, the tea's pretty hot. 

Oh, well that makes sense, that's why your name is Flo. It's what you need.

Well, I've had it with this house mess too. I'm serious Flo, you’ve an ally here! 

Noooo, I can't just toss ~everything ~. And I need to go through it first.

Thanks for the offer Flo. Really. 

But we don't have fire insurance, remember? We'd be in a bad way. 

But water, how’s that for a start, a bit of cleaning? 

I'll hand you the matches, promise. Light all the candles you want. 

But dear, could you stand here beside me as we sort this stuff, 

help me go with the flow?

*From combined prompts: Freewrite as inspired by “Money” by Dana Gioia, excerpt from “less hope” by Danez Smith, and “To Be Self-Evident” by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha (from Lisa Freedman’s BreatheReadWrite, February 11, 2025); and by considering what would like to inaugurate in own life this new year, and by imagining sitting down at table with one's anger, to chat with as with a friend (from Hugo House Quarantine Write-in with Naa Akua, January 21, 2021).