Ode to the Six of Us in the Marston Street House
Gwenyth Wheat
Poetry
Our best conversations happened there—
the big yellow house, windows popped
open from the kitchen and spilling out
coffee’s thick aroma—ruby roast
and caramel charm brewing from morning
to night. We inhaled it. A kind of thunder
that rumbled our veins. Like magnets
we clambered together in the kitchen.
Pajama shadows swished through each other
and danced across lavender walls.
Nights-old popcorn under Saturday sun settled
like jewels on a nightstand. The rays seeped
so fully through dusty shades we thought
the glow would pour into our bellies like honey.
Even the flame on the stovetop turned strange
if we squinted enough. We made it that way.
We imagined licking the fire and becoming
eternal. Anything just to give us a reason
to sit longer while the house aged around us.
We made ourselves the centerpiece of everything:
marvels by the wine cabinet, broken coat rack,
meals on plastic plates. The house filled
with whatever we could mash up and devour.
Gwenyth Wheat (she/her), nominee for Best New Poets 2024, is currently an MFA and MA candidate at McNeese State University. Her work has been nominated for multiple Pushcart Prizes in Poetry and has appeared in Great Lakes Review, The Poet’s Touchstone, Voicemail Poems, ZAUM, and elsewhere. She is currently a writing instructor and the Poetry Editor for The McNeese Review.