i opened the door to my stale heart
and much to my dismay
found there was much
room for improvement
AP: 1st place 2025, Front Page Pick 2025
Grape the purple cat
rolled around the kitchen floor
and under the fridge
Her new fridge
set as a giant gleaming jewel between
clean countertop & faithful kitchen cupboards
Icemaker
amiable crispers bins & shelves
cavernous freezer with sensible sliding drawer
She’d paid cash
using her hard earned own money
smartly side-stepping debt & obligation
The old fridge
battered exterior puny packed interior
bleeding cold & ice cube trays always plundered
It was his
revered bachelorhood relic
when it failed she feared she’d lost everything
She kissed
her kitchen’s cherished crown jewel
its powerful compressor cooling her mind
(published in “London Grip”, 2022)
When my pocket aches
my life appears unhappy
My fridge doesn't smile...
all day, all night
you are the love of my life
sunrise or without light
door I keep in my life
big or small, I come to you
few or plenty, I fill you
any color you show me
clean as I go, you don't leave me
can't count the times I open you
people, young and old, depend on you
even guests can see you
visitors greet and adore you
not everyone sees all inside of you
blessings and happiness you keep in you
power you unleash in us all the time
from you, life goes on for a lifetime.
many years you stayed with us
memories of you grew with us
stickers and magnets you had and felt
pickers of cravings never melt
you are always full when we're happy
sometimes we're sad when you're empty
different stuffs you keep inside
feelings for us you cannot hide
we know how generous you are
keeping us healthy and bright like a star
at night when lights are off
your light shines upon us without scoff
how can we ever forget you?...
you're worth more than a friend out of you
people have aged and you're still there
the one and the only "single" out there!...
thank you for everything.
Ode To Refrigerator
My regards to Refrigerator !
Cool temperature
Calm by its nature.
Superb in Tecno sector.
Most helpful actually.
No need to cook regularly.
Preserving
Deserving
Cold character .
Accommodates every food item as I saw !
Cooked or raw :
Not to mention,
but no discrimination
and puts equal attention :
Unbiased factor.
02/25/23
Here they come again to open up my door
To stare at my innards, to pick and choose.
Take the carrots! I yell. Take the tomatoes.
I know they are going to get moldy and smelly.
Why don’t they ever choose the vegetables?
Why do they buy them?
Are they trying to impress the other shoppers?
My freezer is completely full.
Open the freezer! I think, wanting to drop something hard on their toes.
Oh, no!
It is the grandson.
He likes standing inside me, swinging on my door.
Not the grandson! I yell. But no one hears me.
I cringe as my door opens.
I shall invent a refrigerator Jake declared.
It has been invented, I replied as loud as I dared.
I will invent air conditioning for a whole house then.
He was smug on the slide; I quickly looked good at him.
Why don’t you just be yourself, and act four-years-old?
I know what I’ll do, he replied. I shall invent silver and gold.
The refrigerator helps us
To store food fresh
And keep them longer
We don't have to go to market everyday
But finally we find that
We store a lot of extra food
We forget to use food in time
After long time of storage
The food may change its best quality
And we are eating less tasty food
Less nutritious food
Is it to save or to waste
The refrigerator makes is feel lazy
And stubborn sometimes
If we ourselves are not the best user
A wiser
A Ziplock bag of cut-up hot dogs, treats for my daughter's Huskies
Two gallon jugs of 1% milk, both nearly empty
Three bottles of dressing, ranch from 2007
Leftover spinach salad that looks a bit ashen
Syrup: chocolate, blueberry, and pancake
Raisins and nuts for our Christmas fruitcake
Yesterday's dessert- Apple Brown Betty
Cold, cooked spaghetti
Five types of cheese: cottage, American, cheddar, Swiss and cream
Boiled eggs and beer brats- a Friday night dream!
Ralphie is angry today the woman told her man.
How do you know?
He has frozen the carrots and the peas.
He cannot turn himself up, the man argued.
Ralphie snickered, knowing that he can, and he does.
He is no ordinary, everyday common refrigerator.
The day the refrigerator went mad
Was the day the butcher put out the ad
Read to me by my own weirdo stepdad
Who was a putz, a reprobate, a cad
I was but a boy of ten, just a lad
Near the waterfront was our ugly pad
Chops only sixty cents, and we were glad
Refrigerator on the blink was bad
Can you cook them when you get home, dear Chad?
It was my mom and she was truly rad
Not wanting to make her any more sad
Gave her an excuse that was iron-clad
Refrigerator yelled “good grief! Egad!”
He fixed himself and threw away his mad.
Most active frig that we had ever had.
I didn’t have to cook, and I was glad!
Is today and it makes me wonder
why this happens only once each year.
I looked inside mine
for something a year old,
and found a few things I couldn’t recognize
in jars behind my wife’s peanut butter,
but nothing had lost its color,
and no foul odors assaulted me.
You can tell a lot about a person
by looking in their refrigerator.
People who enjoy cooking tend to have leftovers.
Single people tend to have nothing,
or maybe a few condiments and drinks.
My new oversized jar of green olives
now sits on the bottom shelf,
because my friend helped me conquer its stubborn lid
just yesterday. They will marinate further,
but be consumed over the next three months.
As we get older, we lose track
of what’s behind the almond milk,
until its odor tells us it’s there,
or mold hides its color.
This morning, I’ll take time to inventory
each item to support this special day,
in hopes that nobody has thought to make
a similar day for cleaning freezers.
crayons their paintbrush
child's refrigerator art-
future artist born
A local doctor’s contact number
Few grocery items,
Some fun wish lists were also there..
Blow bubble, coloring pens
and request for balloons.
There were some detailed writings
In the neat handwriting of an 8-year-old
What and how
She is offering her services
And her expectations, though.
On the corner, there
Was a tollfree number,
A hotline number to prevent suicide
Under all those happy and wishful items
Still a little figure, an un-erased one.
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