Chandra Achberger and Amy Moffitt

Chandra Achberger
Calm Chaos
Chemigraph, 5×7 on 1970s Kodak Photo Paper
Response

Home
By Amy Moffitt
Inspiration piece
All I ever see these days is the dust
  and the fur, and some strands of hair,
    the household mementos of our shedding
      and changing, and decaying
        slowly.
And all I ever do is try to address it,
  the dirty dishes, the dirty laundry,
    the cat shit, the ants in the hallway,
      the shower mold and dropped food
        and whatever else the cat has knocked over.
I look at my house and I see dirt
  and dust and death and chaos
    and my 44 years of beating back
      against a force I’ll never defeat.
Today, our imagined dystopia is upon us
  and I sit, sipping a peppery brew
    that someone online said would help
      writing a poem, for the first time in forever.
There is free jazz playing in the other room,
  and my Frida Kahlo candle is lit.
    The sky is seven shades of silver
      and for the first time in a long while
        I see it.
There are instruments I don’t play
  and books I haven’t read
    and stickers, and colored pencils
      and paints, and this notebook
        which I bought in Chicago
          during a writers conference
            eleven years ago.
It’s not my first time courting paradox,
  But I can’t help but wonder
    at the force of death
      that is giving me life,
        that has returned my crumbling house to me

          as a home.

——————————————————
Note: All of the art, writing, and music on this site belongs to the person who created it. Copying or republishing anything you see here without express and written permission from the author or artist is strictly prohibited.

©2020 Amy Moffitt – All rights reserved
©2020 Chandra Achberger – All rights reserved

One Comment

  1. Posted September 15, 2020 at 1:59 pm | #

    Good to be alive again!