© 2009 Bronwen McRae

Little Things

I think about Grandpa today
while I scrub my sink
bits of toast cling to the sides
like tiny mountaineers

remember him standing
in the kitchen
cane hooked in one pocket
dish towel tucked in another
at the sink where he washed dishes
every night for 46 years

the sink where he rinsed
carrots from his garden
scrubbed up after sweeping the driveway
or checking the oil in the yellow Chevrolet

I slosh water
glare at results
swipe a dish towel
across the sink

You gotta give a sink a polish
I hear him say
Each time you use it
Makes it nice and shiny

across the kitchen
my calendar
oversized with
obligations
shoulds

Oh simplicity
2 bedrooms up, one down
croquet on the back patch
a supper guest of snipped peonies
fried chicken on the patio

I finish polishing
nod at my reflection

fold calendar into drawer
at least for today