twenty to six- droem #462

the cuckoo clock and the clock on the stove
stayed at twenty to six
for the duration of the dream

time stopped
the time was always
the same

I returned
to my childhood home
It was dinner time

no one was home
but me and the clocks ticking

the house, immaculate
as if no one lived there

the same turquoise and white
tiny squares of swirly linoleum below

above, two clocks measuring
time for waking, eating, sleeping

the cuckoo clock needed to be
wound up each night

we'd hear the cuckoo
on the hour

then the Austrian ladies and gents
would come out to dance a wooden dance

after a few years, it stopped
working

we kept it on the wall
for a few more years

then we replaced it for
a shiny blue ceramic clock

the old fridge continued
to hum wistfully

perhaps missing the beloved
cuckoo clock, once at its side

given away to make room
for a clock that kept perfect time


*droem=a dream inspired poem