Marie Howe

WHAT THE LIVING DO
by Marie Howe

Johnny, the kitchen sink has been clogged for days,
some utensil probably fell down there.
And the Drano won't work but smells dangerous,
and the crusty dishes have piled up

waiting for the plumber I still haven't called.
This is the everyday we spoke of.
It's winter again: the sky's a deep, headstrong blue,
and the sunlight pours through

the open living-room windows because the heat's on
too high in here and I can't turn it off.
For weeks now, driving, or dropping a bag of groceries
in the street, the bag breaking,

I've been thinking: This is what the living do. And yesterday,
hurrying along those
wobbly bricks in the Cambridge sidewalk, spilling my coffee
down my wrist and sleeve,

I thought it again, and again later, when buying a hairbrush:
This is it.
Parking. Slamming the car door shut in the cold.
What you called that yearning.

What you finally gave up. We want the spring to come
and the winter to pass. We want
whoever to call or not call, a letter, a kiss -
we want more and more and then more of it.

But there are moments, walking, when I catch a glimpse
of myself in the window glass,
say, the window of the corner video store, and I'm gripped
by a cherishing so deep

for my own blowing hair, chapped face, and unbuttoned coat
that I'm speechless:
I am living. I remember you.

-Marie Howe