edible 

a real house
has an ice cream scoop
in the utensil drawer.
we had two & i would take
one in each hand &
dig in the earth outside
in search of antiques
from the civil war 
or the revolution. i wasn't
sure what an antique would look like 
but i new that one needed
to dig to find one.
i practiced my technique 
to get the dirt to come up
in dome-like scoops. if we had
a box of cones i could 
hand out dirt ice creams.
instead i just tossed 
the soil all over
a splattering of earth.
antiques looked up at me from 
their burrows & i rubbed 
my fingers together like
you might for a cat 
to try & get them to come out.
i was determined.
i was going to give these
antiques to my dad who 
loves antiques. he might even 
pile them on a metal tray 
in the oven & make an antique dinner,
filling the house with the smell
of roasting old book pages.
i feed the antiques
from the ice cream scoops,
dollops of frozen yogurt.
i bring them my favorite flavor,
black raspberry & it's melty 
in the heat of the afternoon.
i wonder what the antiques 
when they're alone with each other
& i realize i'm probably disturbing them.
do you ever want to put something
back together when it's 
way too late? do you ever 
dig holes in the yard & try
to put the soil back. i think about
how in the graveyard up the street
you can always tell which plots 
are fresh because they look 
like trays of brownies. the dirt 
has always been chocolate ice cream
which is my least favorite so
i don't think this information
is especially helpful. the antiques 
cry & dig themselves back
where they came from
while i use the ice cream scoop
to swing at passing comets.
what do comets have to do
with a kitchen? if you leave
the window open they'll fly
right in & hatch. a comet
hatching into screws. trying
to close the window 
when it's too late,
trying to scoop the dirt
when it's too late,
it's already melting.
i find ice cream scoops 
in place of my forearm bones.
i use ice cream scoops 
to dig in the fresh plots
at the graveyard. fill a bowl
with soft warm brownie.
pull up the
coffin full of antiques
& spill it on 
the kitchen floor for when
dad gets home. 
i'll say 
look what i brought us.