An Oven Light Poem by Robert Lansing

Where the flesh goes,
The mind follows.

The body is weak.
Why she left me alone.
How she got sick.
And no one calls the phone.

Never had to cook with her around
Now I found a light in the most unexpected place
The oven.

I sit in the dark tonight
In the kitchen
With only the oven light
While I try to mend.

And I brood like a chicken with her eggs
My seat feels like it's hatching
My bottom is burning
My soul squirming like a worm
Or a snake.

Yellow.
The color of companionship.
Cowardly, fearful, impertinent.
I stare into the oven

Light.