Fifty odd years ago
I find
Six dining room chairs
Made from humble oak
In the crowded basement
Of a secondhand store
In Kenosha Wisconsin
They accompany me
To five different houses
A sixth chair left behind
When it cracks in half
In house number three
Four children of my heart
Sit on these chairs
All through their childhoods
And even today
Now their own children
Sit on them too
They are not new
These six oak dining room
Chairs
When I pick them out
From myriad others
I wonder
Where when
Were they created
And by whom
They deserve noble stories
Of grand houses mansions
But no they are only
Humble oak
I envision them in a home
Where there is love
Where they surround
A beautifully dressed table
Laden with favorite dishes
Prepared by loving hands
But how to explain
The crowded basement
Of a secondhand store
In Kenosha Wisconsin
The chairs come with a
Table
It too from humble oak
With five extension leaves
That make me feel ecstatic
I stuff everything into the back of
Big Blue
My loyal station wagon
Carry them home
All for the price of
Twenty-five dollars
Holiday birthday
Ordinary day dinners
Are eaten off the table
Homework cried over
Papers scattered across its
Top
My children travel the years
Sitting on these chairs
Around the table
Legs grown longer appetites stronger
Until they leave come back
Leave again
While he and I
The chairs the table
Remain
