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Column 633

Sunday

Intro by Ted Kooser
05.07.2017

Here’s a cel­e­bra­tion of one day in the week, the kids with the father, a brown­ie for break­fast, every­thing right with the world. Jan­u­ary O’Neil lives in Mass­a­chu­setts, and this poem first appeared in RAT­TLE. Her most recent book is Mis­ery Islands (Cavanker­ry Press, 2014). 

You are the start of the week
or the end of it, and according
to The Beatles you creep in
like a nun. You're the second
full day the kids have been
away with their father, the second
full day of an empty house.
Sunday, I've missed you. I've been
sitting in the backyard with a glass
of Pinot waiting for your arrival.
Did you know the first Sweet 100s
are turning red in the garden,
but the lettuce has grown
too bitter to eat. I am looking
up at the bluest sky I have ever seen,
cerulean blue, a heaven sky
no one would believe I was under.
You are my witness. No day
is promised. You are absolution.
You are my unwritten to-do list,
my dishes in the sink, my brownie
breakfast, my braless day.

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We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Introduction copyright © 2024 by The Poetry Foundation.