NaPM April 27, 2018

[dukealien]

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Chest of Drawers


I
Chest of drawers
subdivided volume
in a bedroom
in a subdivision.

II
Weighty wooden
chest of drawers'
mass overshadows
contents.

III
Hand-pegged chest of drawers
joinery eclipsed
by needlework white doily
it upholds.

IV
Beast with two backs
one of which this chest of drawers
tattooed with its handles
one evening.

V
Pine stained dark
pretended walnut
chest of drawers.

VI
Containing mysteries:
some know what’s in this chest of drawers
some only think they know
some have forgotten.

VII
Infuriating chest
of drawers cannot
rest in any corner—
it would block a door.

VIII
With drawers removed
chest of drawers:
empty wooden house
lacking shutters.

IX
Bloody furniture,
this chest of drawers
wears sullen stain from when
it bit bare toe.

X
Old chest of drawers
makes halting music
when upper right handle
is tugged in wet weather.

XI
Unimpressed by change
of wallpaper and paintings
style all the while
chest of drawers.

XII
Miserly
chest of drawers
won’t disclose a ring
worth one month’s rent
at the pawnshop.

XIII
Implausible chest
of drawers made
of wood from one tree.