Birthday poem '19

It's repulsive to write a poem
for your birthday
about an appliance.
I will forgive you if you don't
offer me this birthday indulgence

the appeal of a zojirushi rice cooker
is the ovum-like design
a smooth white plastic egg which,
given proper cleaning and preparation,
will give birth to a pot of rice & beans

I'm repulsed myself at my joyfulness
for the machine, coming so close
after our hope to have a baby
a white plastic egg to match an egg
of blood, ourselves a pot of beans & rice

the chickens and the ducklings forage
the neighbors laugh and talk
a stray cat drinks a canal and Skip sleeps
I think about a child and a rice cookers
& join the other poets born in June

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My name's Jonathan Schoenfelder and I'm a poet living in Nampa, Idaho. I got an MFA from Temple University and I work at a couple of libraries in the Treasure Valley. My poems have been in Industrial Lunch, The Ill-Tempered Rubyist, and some local mags like The Leveler, Recusa, and Wend. You can find me on twitter @johanthekid. My current team is Charmeleon, Pikachu, Mankey, Sandslash, Pidgeotto, and Mr. Mime.