The Kitchen Table

     the kitchen table is where we all hang out, around a circle of caramel colored wood
     from an old Oak tree that grandma Della bought with a hundred dollar bill from Barbara,
     the single mom of four who used to live across the street.

     she had to pay the electric and gas and we needed a place to gather as a family in
     the warmest place of the house where something was always on the stove or in the oven.

     the crack gets glued once a year from elbows that have leaned in to hear familiar voices talk
     about book reports, bad ass bullies in the lunchroom, pregnancies and marriages.

     this sacred circle of wood that holds our family and friends together has heard it all
     standing in silence as regal as the tree it once was, holding space for hungry mouths
     in need of nourishment for body and soul, it's the place where we all hang out.