Our Kitchen

Our kitchen

Which has doubled as a dining room

Because we are Irish

And kitchens are meant to be gathered in

After wakes and weddings

And for those little deaths and triumphs

In our family’s lives

After lost or won softball games

Or late night binges into the icebox

Sipping hot chocolate after ice skating on the lagoon

Warming up

At the wooden kitchen table

Worn and familiar

Made by my Dad’s hands with love

Praying before meals Mom had created

Sharing the goodness of that meal with our family

Around candlelight we prayed the rosary

Dad and Mom

And four sisters sharing everything

From school happenings to lost or new loves

Soothing and smoothing feelings with a cuppa

Or concocting a new recipe

Always our family’s gathering place

With the refrigreater bulletin board

Adorned with a mix of magnets

To tack anything deserving the odd assortment of them

Cartoons of Peanuts and funny jokes

Poems and limericks someone thought would amuse

A quote clipped from the newspaper

Pictures of our pets

Alive or dead

Peppered the sides

One of us could be found

Munching on a snack while perusing the sides of the frig

As one would read a cereal box

Memories of Dad and Mom sitting close

Smiling and chuckling

We sisters hunched over our games

Laughing and squabbling

Always leaving in good spirits

Our kitchen

A place we always gathered

And wrap our arms around each

To cry or laugh or drink a toast

Of Mogan David saved for those special occasions

We gathered in our kitchen

The heart of our home.