THE ACQUIRED ESSENCE OF GRACE

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Back on track, a little. Am about to rush off to Nelson to see a grandkid in a play, but meanwhile...

Found Poetry Review's Greg Santos has a few choices as prompts today. I'm going with the "Table of Contents" poem. The first book I found that actually has a TOC is Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace. Atwood doesn't much go for articles in her titles so I've added a few. And a few other words as well. Her titles are in italics. Here goes.

The Acquired Essence of Grace

The jagged edge of the knife,
bumps in a rocky road,
all of it what you put up with until you get home,
find the puss in the corner, waiting loudly
for food, attention, food, out, in, food—
a sort of young man's fancy when it comes down to it,
you never think about the eventual broken dishes,
shards from which you keep in a secret drawer 
which makes as much sense as putting up a snake fence
to keep out the fox and geese whose hearts and gizzards
would line the periphery.
When the lady of the lake vanishes
beneath the falling timbers of Solomon's temple, 
you know it's too late, somebody's opened Pandora's box,
the letter X is etched into your forehead
(you'll recall the jagged edge'd knife)
and what was once a wasteland is given over
to the tree of paradise, resplendent in its green spring coat.

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