Kitchen Clock

By Nira Soimi

There is a clock on the kitchen wall in our home,

Looking over the floor wear we sit,

Drinking red from the bottle, sharing laughs from the heart.

And we don’t think it tells the time.

It doesn’t seem linear, 

The needles jump around,

But you wouldn’t stare at it long enough to monitor—

Caught up in the dramas of university, work, and relationships.

It’s just never the time it really is, and it’s always changing.

The clock doesn’t know

How long it's been since we left our families,

Since the four of us decided to live together,

How long it's been since the assault,

Since the ambulance came,

How long it's been since love, 

Loss, grief, girlhood.

We sit somewhere timeless, in each other's arms.

Breaking rules by fathers, looking for wisdom from mothers.

Growing up still, where time doesn’t exist.

We feel grown now, but we wouldn’t know 

How long.