Soundless Words

Upright center

she peels potatoes
before windows gray of gray
between outside fences bent
over winter's sequined blight

skitter skitter
snow creatures prance lacework
upon the snows
weaving crystal tapestry
for boredom's mind-time fun

Spread before

plates once whole
chipped ancestry now
wait patiently to serve
our sunshine in gray

Across the room

cast iron boils
color guard to the ready
purple beets
green roots aplenty
ready spud white morsels
slice
slice
plop
plop
dash of this
dash of that 

To the back

the kettle whistles
beckoning near
mason jars of leaves in waiting
the pleading begun
take me
take me
won't you please

Now before me

soldered cup of languid herbal flakes
summer's much maligned gifts
float anxiously
beneath the steam

Coming forward

mother's assuaged warning
recoils tiny hands
tin handle too hot to grasp
smiles fragrant wafts to calm the thirst

To my right 

father eyes smoke-dried meat
beneath more mason jar entombment
their strips remaining tall
forever brave their resolve
knowing hunger waits for naught

Around us all

we pick
we choose
we vanquish for the better
say we

while cowering prayer
silences the air
bib-overalled penitence
foretells quaking quiet

All is ready

folded apron-dried hands
ladles the bounty
while continuing outside
saber winds beget tiny icebound shards
through glass windowed stages
nature's boundless repertoire

And so it went

For this youth
with hidden eyes
and silent echoes
through endless seasons
held fast
by voices within
building choruses
of soundless words