THE INTERVIEW
By Sandra L. Faulkner
for Sylvia Plath (after “The Applicant”)
Can you separate lights from darks,
gabardine from linen?
Too much bother? I cannot care
if your hands are
warm like Georgia hot springs
capable of sparing my feet
the Sisyphean walk over broken
crayons and wine glasses,
the laundry room of dog and dust.
Do you know how to make coffee,
float a river of cream
in my capacious cup?
Forget the sugar and call
my name with an accent auf Deutsch?
But speak only ein bisschen,
patch the noise of domestic bliss
with a steady pour and two clinks of ice.
Will you wait for the repairs,
bury the hamster with the holey
blanket, behind the dying Holly?
Never mind if you dig too shallow,
I want a wife, too.
Today’s poem originally appeared in the Pine Hills Review and appears here today with permission from the poet.
Sandra L. Faulkner is Professor of Communication at BGSU. Her poetry appears in places such as Gravel, Literary Mama, Rat’s Ass Review, and damselfly. She authored three chapbooks, Hello Kitty Goes to College (dancing girl press, 2012), Knit Four, Make One (Kattywompus, 2015), and Postkarten aus Deutschland. Sense published her memoir in poetry, Knit Four, Frog One (2014). She researches, teaches, and writes about relationships in NW Ohio where she lives with her partner, their warrior girl, a hamster, and two rescue mutts.
Editor’s Note: Today’s poem invites us in for coffee and contemplation. Welcomes us to a life–a real life replete with a “walk over broken / crayons and wine glasses, / the laundry room of dog and dust.” Lets us in on the secret desires and realities of the speaker, that a “steady pour and two clinks of ice” and a willingness to “wait for the repairs” trumps–or perhaps is–domestic bliss. Imperfection is expected–welcome, even–in this refreshingly honest portrayal of an interview for the role of wife.
Want to see more from Sandra L. Faulkner?
Carpe Noctum Chapbook Interview
A collection of Sandra L Faulkner’s work via Bowling Green State University
Buy Family Stories, Poetry, and Women’s Work: Knit Four, Frog One from Sense Publishers
Buy Writing the Personal: Getting Your Stories onto the Page from Sense Publishers
Buy Knit Four, Make One from Kattywompus Press
Buy Hello Kitty Goes to College from dancing girl press
As It Ought To Be 