Can a kitchen table be the subject for a poem?

Question

Summer Kitchen Table

by Elaine P

This is your place, at the Round Table

Here on your Island a table for one,

Open the window, regard sparkling waters,

Inhale salty breezes filling white sails.

Gather saved treats for Long Island ducks,

Noisily circling six ducklings newborn,

The babies not swimming, but tripping on water,

Keeping their distance, eying the swans.

Laugh at the mute swans, with three grey-white cygnets,

Chasing the ducks away from their brood,

Watch dancing robins bathing in sprinklers,

Arguing who will get the first worm.

Close your South window, storm clouds now gather,

Study the photos arranged on your wall

Think of your loved ones, some who now live

Far beyond Mars, but still in your heart.

Water the plants: spiders and cactus,

Aloe and fichus, they need your care,

Take out a cook book, sigh in frustration,

They never give you a recipe for one.

Open a new book, a Tangled Web filled

With poetry captured by virtual friends,

Abandon your study, desk bare and dusty,

Until cold North Wind blows once again.

Answer 1

yes

Answer 2

Why not just, "Round Table"

Yes, tables are interesting, So much happens at and from

tables.

Added to other comments, Small town/big town, at public

resturants all have a round table, where deals and gossip

flow. So write on, there is a lot to draw upon a table.

Answer 3

Oh dear, is Island (line 2) a kitchen pun?  I think this is apparently a seasonal poem, a genre very dear to me.  For that reason I would not change the title; however, to me, newborn ducklings suggest the poem begins around Easter.  My inclination is to divide the poem in half after stanza three, when the speaker closes the window.  The move indoors is rather plangent, and I love stz. 5, lines 3-4.  I do not think that `Web' is an intended pun on `dusty' (I like the off-rhyme with `study'), but the North Wind seals the seasonal movement of the poem-- and for me was coincidentally appropriate, because I had been just listening to Chopin's Winter Wind Etude a few minutes before reading this poem.

Regarding the changes, I like your original first line, because line 2 already captures the sense the new version conveys.  I also like your original title, because I agree with Ms S that a kitchen table is the centre of a modern house-- and therefore to my mind, no matter where indoors the poem digresses, it is still the anchor; while Summer likewise seems to be the centre of the poem.  The round table for one image is straightforward and effective.

Answer 4

"Hi!'

I prefer the outside table than the in.

much more visual beauty, much like your poem.

WELL DONE! : )

Cheers  : )

P.S: I think the lady perceived the wrong table...

Answer 5

Good memories. Looks like you have had a busy, wonderful day centered around your round table and postings from friends. Enjoyed!

Answer 6

ANYTHING can be the subject of a poem. I like where you're going with the poem, but I think you should circle back to the table at the end. You mention the table in your first stanza, but from there you drift away to other subjects and the table is seemingly abandoned. Without any other mention, the table doesn't seem to be the subject. Tying the end in with the beginning would give the poem more of a finality

Answer 7

the kitchen table is the heart of any house.  Enjoy soft breezes and new books and coffee.  Your description makes me wish I were there.

Answer 8

You covered more than the kitchen table here! lol  "Views from a Kitchen Table" would be the title I would give.  It would be interesting if you took this more to musings like "must remember to save treats...." and "should close south window, storm coming..."  It plants you more with the table and still allows the views and thoughts.  Overall, a very enjoyable read in whatever layout.  The only phrase that did not seem right to me since, perhaps me, I always associate it with the Knights is the "Round Table."  I think I understand the intent by doing it like this, but it immediately sent me there.  So now, sit thee there at the "Table Round" and chuckle at my comments!  lol  Meanwhile you get a star.