The Patience of Ordinary Things
It is a kind of love, is it not?
How the cup holds the tea,
How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare,
How the floor receives the bottoms of shoes
Or toes. How soles of feet know
Where they’re supposed to be.
I’ve been thinking about the patience
Of ordinary things, how clothes
Wait respectfully in closets
And soap dries quietly in the dish,
And towels drink the wet
From the skin of the back.
And the lovely repetition of stairs.
And what is more generous than a window?
Notes
There are days when even the smallest responsibilities feel exhausting, yet the objects around us remain quietly available. In The Patience of Ordinary Things, Pat Schneider finds an unexpected tenderness in the furniture, utensils, and familiar spaces of everyday life. A chair waits to be occupied, a cup to be held, a bed to receive our tired bodies. None of these things demand that we explain ourselves or become someone better before offering their comfort. Perhaps this is why ordinary objects become so precious during difficult periods. They preserve a sense of continuity when our inner lives feel uncertain. Their usefulness asks for no gratitude, and their presence reminds us that care need not always arrive through another person's words. As October's Decay draws to a close, Schneider offers a gentler response to despair. Even when our ambitions, relationships, or convictions begin to unravel, the world continues to accommodate our small human needs. Sometimes the possibility of beginning again is found in the simple things that have been waiting for us all along. #PatSchneider #ContemporaryPoetry #AmericanPoetry #EverydayPhilosophy #HopeAndHealing
From The Weight of Love (Negative Capability Press, 2019) by Pat Schneider. Copyright © 2019 by Pat Schneider.