the wok
sits on top of the cupboard
its shadow
makes a dense circle
on the ceiling
you put it there
I’m grateful
you put the wok there that
you wanted to take to the recycle place
because we hadn’t used it for a while –
though I had just used it
to hold chilled water
to plunge the beans into
after blanching them
sometimes you throw things out
…………too soon
like the toaster
………..though we don’t often eat bread
now
but you compromised and kept the wok
and when you reorganised
the cupboards and put all the
pots together
no doubt the wok wouldn’t
fit and perhaps for emphasis
you put it there, perhaps
to say, see it doesn’t fit
anywhere, we don’t need it –
but I shouldn’t be suspicious
and anyway I’m just so happy
because seeing it there
on top of the cupboard
tells me I’m finally home
in this apartment
we moved into six months ago
the first dwelling we bought
together
it looks odd there
it says
I kept it because you like it

**

Owen Bullock’s latest poetry collection is Pancakes for Neptune (Recent Work Press, 2023), following three previous poetry titles, five books of haiku, a bilingual edition of tanka, and a novella. He teaches Creative Writing at the University of Canberra. His other interests include music, juggling and chess. https://poetry-in-process.com/ @OwenTrail

P76 issue 9: Poetries of place/ displacement/ diaspora/ odyssey: On-line Edition. Table of Contents

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