# Bed, Bath & Beyond



## mark_schaeffer (Feb 26, 2017)

*​*Slipping in after a run, 
I stick with the floor plan in aisles
swept by unattended women
feathering the nest. Homesteaders, lamp fires
low, greet me with indifference.
Grazing isn't welcome here.
In the bower of pair-bonded bliss, 
I wash among bookshelf eddies, 
then survey toaster ovens and
food gear. Instructions chide: 
always point a knife away from yourself.

Among boscage and canebrake, 
Lucite offers thirty ways to fete
a loved one. Sections swivel through
the stages in life - mats and towels, 
curtains and linen, brass lamps -
until the train halts in earthenware: 
replace one set or everything? 
A couple, slinky girlfriend lightly
clad, map out their future.

A quick inventory before turning back: 
I've got Vornado fans, the Mighty Mite, 
a Danby dishwasher, a mop and broom.
Women in jeans rule every grid, 
happy to have someone to think about.
I clear the straits before checkout, 
past a year's supply of pistachios, 
padded tongs to grip things with, 
things that cup things, 
puffy hangers, do-dads, 
a special lamp for hurricanes.


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## sas (Feb 27, 2017)

I appreciate the subtle message within this poem. I fear it may be lost on others who are more literal readers. Love: "always point a knife away from yourself"; "a special lamp for hurricanes."   The easiest line that sets the theme is "pair bonded bliss".

I might try to make more of "I wash among bookshelf eddies,". Perhaps this is where a line might be added for more clarity. 

I wash among bookshelf eddies
where my head can stay above water

I know that may not be the perfect line, but something to show you are most at home there; not out of place. 

I love this poem.  sas
.


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## Kevin (Feb 27, 2017)

Ah... Single-hood, while observing the deuce-ies in habitat. Very good description. Wait. Is he single, or is he there on a mission? Hmm... Too many items: he is single.


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## mark_schaeffer (Feb 27, 2017)

Ah, nice to be read as something other than a shopping excursion!


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## Bard_Daniel (Feb 27, 2017)

You managed to make this your own. Good job! = D


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## ned (Mar 1, 2017)

hello - enjoyed the quirky phrasing and originality in this poem -

although the references were a bit hit and miss, for me.

loved this line- a thing that cups things...

cheers....Ned


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## mark_schaeffer (Mar 2, 2017)

Ned, what phrasing struck you as quirky?


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## jenthepen (Mar 2, 2017)

That line in the first stanza:_ Homesteaders, lamp fires
low, greet me with indifference._  is great. It immediately separates the lone shopper from the women by their respective sexual awareness. He measures them by their lack of response to his own 'lamp fire' which is obviously burning bright. So much said in that one line! From this point on, we know that he is in alien territory and knows it.

I think the middle stanza is the weakest. Maybe it needs a few quizzical takes on all the stuff he is passing. As someone who also feels out of place in modern home-ware stores, I know there are all sorts of new appliances and cooking aids that look like they should be in a medical facility or forensic laboratory and their function (apparently to me alone) is obscure. What I'm trying to say in this rambling critique is that it would add to the sense of alienation if some of the items were mysterious, rather than simply listing the more mundane items.

Anyway, I enjoyed this poem for the way it was written from the perspective of the emotion and reactions that this experience invoked, and allowed us to watch through the poet's eyes. Good one!


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## H.Brown (Mar 2, 2017)

Is this poem about the store Bed, bath and beyond? Sorry I had to ask after seeing this title all day, good poem though.


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## mark_schaeffer (Mar 2, 2017)

H.Brown said:


> Is this poem about the store Bed, bath and beyond? Sorry I had to ask after seeing this title all day, good poem though.



The poem takes place *in *Bed, Bath & Beyond. It is in part about the store, at least as a prop. It also tries to appropriate the name of the store in a highly smutty way that no one has responded to yet, at least in words.


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## ned (Mar 2, 2017)

hello - certain American words, rather than the phrasing made it quirky, and lifted the poem, for me.
of course, not quirky at all if you are fom the States......
Ned


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## Kevin (Mar 2, 2017)

So... Sex is dirty? How...Victorian. 
I'm not seeing it, though, the smut.  I suppose bed and bath might come right after sex. Beyond? Marriage, relationship?  The stages... things bought appropriate to phase of life/marriage...at stop Earthenware might signify burial. Might.


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## mark_schaeffer (Mar 3, 2017)

Kevin said:


> 
> I'm not seeing it, though, the smut.  I suppose bed and bath might come right after sex.



Bed and bath might come before sex. In that sequence, sex might be viewed as the beyond. Wonder if I've got it wrong and the store should be called Bath, Bed & Beyond?


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