Imagine That

I’m familiar with enough. I own it.
The half-full coffee cup is attractive,
microwaveable, and worth repeating,

like the habendum clause,
referring to moveable property:
something to have and to hold.

The breakfast dishes will get done.
There are olives, cheese and chicken pie
For when I begin to feel that noontime slide.

The plumber fixed the mixing valve
restricting the flow in the bathroom tub.
Now our water is hot again. Imagine that.
If all else fails, I can expect you home after
your appointment with Tina the audiologist,
who will give your aides a high fidelity tune-up.

We’ll cut into grilled pork chops together,
while I tell you I saw Angie at the library.
You’ll ask me how her children are doing

and before I can answer, while removing
your plate, you remind me that the credit
card payment is due at the end of the month.

*

Judith O’Connell Hoyer’s 2017 chapbook Bits and Pieces Set Aside was nominated for a Massachusetts Book Award by the publisher of Finishing Line Press. This is the title poem of Hoyer’s full-length collection Imagine That forthcoming from Future Cycle Press in March 2023. Judith’s poems can be found in publications that include CALYX, Cider Press Review, Southwest Review, The Galway Review (Ireland) The Moth Magazine (Ireland), The New York Times Metropolitan Diary, and The Worcester Review among others. She splits her time between Massachusetts and Rhode Island.