The dining table is the place
where family and friends gather
to partake of shared memory,
long history, and future planning.
I sit at a table with a leg cut short.
It wobbles and shakes discomforting
all seated round, frowning
and disconcerted, alerted to danger
of falling plates, tipped glasses.
We make an effort to stabilize the table
while grabbing utensils and protecting laps.
Some say, let’s move to another table.
Others look for a deck of cards
or a roll up napkins to place under
the shortened leg, while the rest wonder
how a simple meal could have become
such a disturbing conumdrum.
Any fix cannot last. The thought
of a restful meal is long past.
Many simply leave the scene
wanting only peace and a place
where they can eat decent meal.
The table can be fixed we know.
It will not be fast. Any fix should last.
Remove that bad leg and replace
with a leg that carries the table with grace.
Cutting off the other three
might improve the table’s stability.
But would anyone but the very small
fit at such a table, not brought low?
Ignoring the furniture in our world
has brought us to this?
No place to safely and calmly sit?
annarino writes 