40. House Rules

A poem about something “ordinary”

I’m not a poet (oh, I know it), but for this issue, I followed a prompt to write a “pantoum” style poem. This was interesting and fun, so I decided to share. If you want this piece read to you (by me, not a computer) click on the audio above☝🏼

House Rules

I turn off the water and I push the gooseneck faucet to the right
Standing at the double stainless steel sink in my kitchen
After settling in this new home, with space, we thought, for all of us
Every time I use the sink, my son comes behind to make sure I set the faucet right.

Standing at the double stainless steel sink in my kitchen
Weary of his surveillance, but resigned
I know my son will come behind to make sure I set the faucet right
His compulsions become mine.

Weary of his surveillance, but resigned
I wipe the counter behind the sink again
His comforts become mine
I dry my hands and fix the towel where it hangs, just so.

I wipe the counter behind the sink, again
In this new home there’s enough space, I think, for all of us
I dry my hands and fix the towel, for him, where it hangs just so.
And, I push the gooseneck faucet to the right.

You can stop here if you want and go about your day (and thank you for reading). But if you want to know a bit more about how this poem came to be, it’s like this:

For nerds like me, it doesn’t feel complete to send out this poem without explanation. I enjoy geeking out over the creative process, and I think this poem is better when you know a bit about the structure. In school, I actually liked digging into the analysis of literature and scenes and sentences—and when I see a prompt with concrete rules, I’m intrigued by the puzzle to create art within those boundaries.

I’ve never really studied poetry. I’d never heard of a pantoum. But I’ve been reading a lot more poetry lately and I am enamored by how poets use not just language, but timing, rhythm and repetition to reveal more than words alone can say.

This poem came out of a prompt on the Substack

Poetry Unbound

(Thanks to poet

Zina Gomez-Liss

for sharing that on Substack Notes!).

The prompt (you can read it here) asked for 8 distinct, descriptive lines to capture something very “ordinary” in your life. These eight lines are then shaped into a repetitive “pantoum” form. In a pantoum, the lines are repeated in a certain order. Traditionally, these lines are repeated exactly, but there is some room in the modern/English form to play with slight variations.

I love how the repetition in the lines reflects the repetitive nature of the habitual “ordinary” things we do, and it’s really a perfect form for describing what life is like under our son’s “house rules.”

I was hesitant to share this poem, because a) not a poet and b) I sense that the above version is not quite there yet – it doesn’t fully capture the policing and disagreements that bubble in my kitchen and all around our shared living spaces.

But in the repetition of the lines, I felt a slight shift away from my exhausted frustration with his rules that don’t always make sense to me. As the poem progressed, I began to see how my daily adjustments under my son’s “advisement” could be offered as supportive acts.

Can the aspiration embedded in these lines seep into real life?  

With practice, and repetition, perhaps.

Thanks for reading and indulging my little artistic exercises here. I hope you are finding some peace, comfort and creative joy within your “ordinary” worlds, too.

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