Blue Willow plate.
Salmon crumbs
from yesterday’s lunch.
Kitchen door bolted.
Little paintbrush for watercolor
or olive oil.
Light strokes for the
black burners
thick white oven.
Why can’t I be a teacher?
“Grated cheese stirs into the milky egg mixture
use a whisk.”
Garbage smells.
Sheer curtains the sun comes through.
Spoons spooning in the drawer.
On the kitchen counter
a spider rests.
How to get out?
Climb onto this pepper grinder.
Jeffrey Kingman lives by the Napa River in Vallejo, California. His poetry collection, BEYOND THAT HILL I GATHER, was published by Finishing Line Press in June of 2021. His poetry chapbook, ON A ROAD, was published by Finishing Line Press in of 2019. He is the winner of the 2018 Eyelands Book Award (Greece) for an unpublished poetry book, a finalist in the 2018 Hillary Gravendyk Prize poetry book competition, and finalist in the 2022 Prime Number Magazine Award for Poetry. He has poems published in PANK, Clackamas Literary Review, Visitant, and others. Jeffrey is a copy editor at Omnidawn Publishing. He has a Master’s degree in Music Composition and has been playing drums in rock bands most of his life.
www.jeffkingman.com