Invocation
Jonathan B. Aibel
Bent over the sink,
plate in left and cloth right,
dunk, water sheets off like fabric,
wipe dunk again wipe.
Birds flirt with my sunflower
seed cornucopia that hangs
over snow shadows, heat turned down,
thrifty, water is warmer than I.
After lunch dishes and my hands
dried, I will go up to the bedroom
and put on a sweater.
For now, washing dishes
comforts, companionable. I feel as if
you were in the house.
Jonathan B. Aibel is a poet who spends his days wrestling software to the ground as an engineer specializing in quality and testing. His poems have been published, or will soon appear, in Rogue Agent, Main Street Rag, Constellations, Nixes Mate, Lily Poetry Review, and elsewhere. He has studied with Lucie Brock-Broido, David Ferry and Barbara Helfgott Hyett. Jonathan lives in Concord, MA with his family.