ISSUE 49
November 2010

Melissa Carol Johnson

 

Melissa Carol Johnson Melissa Johnson is Curriculum Coordinator and Assistant Professor in the University College of Virginia Commonwealth University. Her chapbook, Looking Twice at the World, was published in 2008 by the South Carolina Poetry Initiative. Her poems have previously appeared in Borderlands, Kakalak, The Connecticut Review, Farmer's Market, The Potomac Review, and other journals.

Kitchen Augury    


My grandmother never went in my mother's kitchen
without cleaning, washing, tightening her lips.
I don't think she liked my father.

The cold oven, the whirring can opener,
the hot dog and bologna packages
gaping in the fridge were signs.

The dirty dishes, the unfolded towels
were tea leaves, omens, entrails
to the straight-spined, black-eyed cleaner, healer.

With the sound of the water from the tap,
the various greens of the kitchen, uncovered,
she wove a spell, opened a window, scattered ghosts.


 

 

Melissa Carol Johnson: Poetry
Copyright ©2010 The Cortland Review Issue 49The Cortland Review