her blue jug
astride the breakfast table
loose lipped
handle on hips
all the things he said
she should never be

too round
for shadows to loiter
too blue
for clouds to drift through
too patterned and far far
too everything … yet

not slender
enough nor elegantly
resplendent
just plain and under-fired
where glaze doesn’t shine
the way he wants her to be

her blue jug
the one she reaches for
to pour cream
over snap-crackle-pop
or whatever however
wherever she is

enough to make her
poetically
sweetened
unrepentantly
playful
and oh! so deliciously real

Kathy Kituai

 

Kathy Kituai published a documentary for NBC, seven poetry collections, five anthologies, a children’s story, and received two Canberra Critic awards for her teaching in Scotland, South Australia, New South Wales, and the ACT since 1990. Her latest publication, Deep in the Valley of Tea Bowls, won the 2016 ACT Writing and Publisher Award.

 © 2017