Making Waffles In The Living Room
(a day in the life of an eccentric)

With no one home to say a thing,
She lives out her free spirit.
Not a misfit,
Simply unconventional.

She’s making waffles,
But she wants to watch TV –
A favorite program on on Sunday.
Which will take priority?
Must one take priority?
Why not do them simultaneously.

She grabs a stool
And drags it to the living room.
Step one.
Carrying the still cold iron
Without fear of burn, she sets it
On the stool and plugs the iron in.
Old appliance it goes on,
No On Off switch therein.
Step two.
Bearing bowl brim-filled with batter,
Setting it on stool where it
                            fits snugly in and on its step,
Spoon in hand she spoons the batter
Onto iron piping hot;
Shuts the top and starts to wait.
One, two, three and on to plate,
All while watching TV’s favorite!
What subject for a poem!
Happy that there’s no one home
                                 to say a thing.
Fifteen waffles later,
Piled high and fully sated,
Iron back in place
Not a drop or drip to waste
And no one is the wiser.

from the Greek ekkentros, from ‘ek ‘out of’ + kentron ‘center’.

Making Waffles In The Living Room 3.19.2017
A Sense Of The Ridiculous II; I Is Always You Is We;
Arlene Corwin

Lets say we never met,
And you weren't here and I've never been trapped in that net.

Lets say we weren't meant
For us to stay attached, for us to never bend.

Lets say you never promised me,
For me to wait and then you'd disappoint me.

Lets say you never loved,
It was only you the one loved.

Lets say the truth for once,
For us to get over our loss.

Does  this sound like you or me? You know!
When do chicks learn to say no?"
"While you're here--would you mind?"
"Can you do me a favour? You're so  kind!"
"Hurry up, we'll be late!"
Tell him to shut up, great!
Are you exploited, eh?
Let's empower little women--today!

The littlest actions,
the smallest words,
and
the shortest sentences
make
the largest differences.

Time waits for nobody.
So, speak
what your heart
aches to say,
And do
what your heart
pines to do.
Time waits for nobody.

In my old house
there seemed an old spirit
or maybe a mischievous mouse

I use to lay
in my old room at night
tired of the preceding day

The house would speak
tales of bomp, crattles, and creak
and here's what it had to say

"Womp, boop, dat,
flush, whoosh, and crack"
late at night the house would say

"Thud, crick, snap, whip,
Bang, Bang, Bang, blip"
laying on my bed this trip

And in the morn
when the old blinds were torn
here's what the old house had to say

"Pop, pop, pop, pop,
slam, nick, split, lop"
the old house continued to say

"Whack, ding, bump, splat,
hack, ping, thwump, flap"
wondering what made it sound this way

And through the noon
and into the night
my old house chatted all day

As I lay here thinking
I get the sinking feeling
that I'll start making it say

"Go to sleep and good night,
don't let the bed bugs bite,
I'll always have something to say"