...On Poetry and Fiction – Just “One Word” Away (Cupboard)

 

http://spillwords.com/author/phyllispcolucci/      

https://www.amazon.com/Phyllis-P.-Colucci/e/B00VMU8B44

 

            One word becomes one idea, becomes one sentence, becomes one poem, becomes one story. It must start from just "one word". Today my one word is "Cupboard".

 

                                                            (PINTEREST PHOTO)

           

        When “The Cupboard is Bare”, are we talking about food or life? What lies behind closed doors often times teaches us lessons about life that may truly satiate our hearts and souls, and sometimes sadden us deeply. Life is a metaphor which we recognize as we age. Once we figure out the message, our “Cupboard” is no longer bare. It is full of emotions, both happy and sad, that will take us from childhood to adulthood. It’s all about the journey.

                                                                     Cupboard

As a child, I recall hearing it said

The term that frightened me so

But I was too innocent and shy, of course

Too unsophisticated to know

The term which echoed “The Cupboard is bare”

Turned my joys into worry and woe

 

I pictured it dark and void of fare

I would only peek inside on a dare

I was a juvenile - simple and so unaware

But I guess I needed to be right there

 

I feared no food for the family to eat

I feared we may never rise up on our feet

But my fear turned to strength

as I coped with defeat

and I learned rather quickly

‘twas not always a treat

 

My heart was sad, the tears did fall

Yet I had no understanding of it at all

So curiosity pushed me to open doors wide

My stomach panged; I stood there and sighed

But my soul was hungry; I felt denied

 

All was forsaken in the “Cupboard” I’ve known

How I wished I was taller and fully grown

I winced as I smelled the awful decay

I prayed to the Lord it would all go away

Instead I was chilled right down to the bone

Surely something had died there, scared and alone

 

Something was wrong inside those doors

My skin cried out from bleeding sores

Tarnished handles  -  Sticky and aged to the hilt

Such dampness, such dust, eroded to silt

In childlike manner I looked within

Chipped paint, rotted wood all wrapped in sin

 

But open it wider, I surely did do

In hopes I’d find something bright and anew

Oh Yes! It was dark – to my chagrin

I was forced to embrace it with a grin

My soul taunted me to see with wide eyes

To understand truth and to understand lies

 

Then one day the term “The Cupboard is bare”

no longer meant what I originally thought

It was all just a metaphor, a lesson in life

To learn as I should; to learn as I ought

Which details of life had suddenly left me…

Wildly curious; painfully distraught

 

It had nothing to do with tarnished handles,

So sticky and aged to the hilt

It had all to do with existing on earth

full of love, full of woe, full of guilt

 

It had nothing to do with dampness and dust,

chipped paint or rotted wood

It had all to do with aging and fear

As I entered a world of Adulthood!