my side of it?
wet potato peelings
land in the sink

13 Responses

  1. T. Johnson Says:

    Love the image that this wonderful poem evokes!

  2. Garry Eaton Says:

    The sad, humorous poetry of the schlemiel. Wonderful.

    Garry

  3. Alan Summers Says:

    I really like the opening line and the fact that I can read wet potato peelings but also "wet potato feelings" landing in the sink. Great wordplay!

    Alan, With Words

  4. Brandon Bordelon Says:

    my side of it
    drowned out
    by the disposal

  5. polona Says:

    the emotions this poem evokes… strong stuff!

  6. Frances Ruth Harris Says:

    Thank you for this gem!

  7. haikuapprentice Says:

    This is such a powerful poem, Susan.

    I am constantly amazed by poets who capture such highly charged situations, and bring them with all their underlying emotion, into haiku form, and into the hearts of readers.

    Ah, what is "it"? My side of what? The poet has deliberately not given us the backstory, so we are forced to supply something from our own lives. And who among us has no repertoire of such domestic angst? At the kitchen sink, peeling potatoes – I didn't realize but it must be a universal location for domestic disputes. Perhaps because it gives us the opportunity to be "doing something", diffusing our anger, working it out through the repeated cutting action of potato peeling, and having an excuse to not keep looking our loved antagonist in the eye, all these seem to render this task a perfect setting for the playing out of domestic misery.

    The wet potato peelings – so mundane, yet so physical, so sensual and so astoundingly poignant.

    Then the finality of the last line: "land in the sink". It really conveys the sinking of one's heart, and leaves the reader with a sense of abiding dread.

    It also gives this reader the impetus to revalue his relationships, to redouble his commitments, and to appreciate his happiness.

    Thank you Susan for sharing this genuinely affecting poem.

    Strider

  8. Peter Newtion Says:

    my side of it
    and your side of it
    no goodnight

  9. Maria Says:

    Beautiful Sue! I read it, loved it, and then noticed you wrote it the second time I opened my email…..!

  10. seaviewwarrenpoint Says:

    I really liked this. I read the 'my side of it' as your side of the argument. Great stuff.

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