THE WARDROBE

The Wardrobe

Somedays when you open it,

It is nicely in order.

Shirts and sweaters hanging in color order.

A clean state of being.

Other days, perhaps weeks

It almost seems to reek.

Shirts, pants, socks, and underwear make a home everywhere.

Unfolded and stashed

away from sight.

Missing pairs and missing minds-

Fold a shirt and lose your sight.

A sock here and a sock there,

No pairs anywhere.

A voice here and a voice there

A dirty shirt sitting where?

The laundry basket fills up.

A week or two goes by

Smell a sock or a pair of pants,

Good enough to wear again.

It overflows, and the wardrobe empties.

A single shirt hangs in it,

A string of hope.

A thought in mind.

Empty the laundry basket,

Clean it all up.

Open the wardrobe yet again,

Hang the shirts and fold some of them.

No missing pairs,

No dirty underwear,

No angry voices in your head.

Sugar Cane

Sunkissed skin,

Brown eyes that shine in the sunlight.

Running through the sugar cane,

Laughter everywhere.

Hide and seek in this earthy heaven.

The smell of sweet sugar cane-

Lulling us as we play,

Singing to use when they sway.

Cut one down and chop it up for me,

Peel the hard skin,

Let me chew on the sweetness of its meat.

There's nothing like sugar cane on a hot day.

Let me run around the fields one more time,

While the sun is still high up.

Let me enjoy this moment-

Before it all becomes a distant memory.

Maria Rodriguez is a graduate of Western Carolina University. Maria was born in Mexico and moved to the United States at the age of ten. She quickly fell in love with the English language and the art of telling stories and has been writing ever since.