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Shannon brought home homework today and asked me to help her understand a poem. It was called Mrs. Caldera's house of Things. I absolutely loved it. It reminded me so much of me! How many times have so many here lamented about how much stuff we have? And how hard it was to give it up? This poem (it's not really long at all) just touched my heart with why I keep so much. And why I feel crafter's are special people. We value things and others. Read it and see if you feel the same as me.

Mrs. Caldera’s House of Things
By Gregory Djanikian
You are sitting in Mrs. Caldera’s kitchen,
you are sipping a glass of lemonade
and trying not to be too curious about
the box of plastic hummingbirds behind you,
the tray of tineless forks at your elbow.


You have heard about the backroom
where no one else has ever gone
and whatever enters, remains,
refrigerator doors, fused coils,
mower blades, milk bottles, pistons, gears.


“You never know,” she says, rummaging
through a cedar chest of recipes,
“when something will come of use.”


There is a vase of pencil tips on the table,
a bowl full of miniature wheels and axles.


Upstairs, where her children slept,
the doors will not close,
the stacks of magazines are burgeoning,
there are snow shoes and lampshades,
bedsprings and picture tubes,
and boxes and boxes of irreducibles!


You imagine the headline in the Literalist Express:
House Founders Under Weight Of Past.


But Mrs Caldera is baking cookies,
she is humming a song from childhood,
her arms are heavy and strong,
they have held babies, a husband,
tractor parts and gas tanks,
what have they not found a place for?


It is getting dark, you have sat for a long time.
If you move, you feel something will be disturbed,
there is room enough only for your body.
“Stay awhile,” Mrs. Caldera says,
and never have you felt so valuable.

Thank you for sharing this! I have never heard of the poem, but it will now be a favorite.

Oh my , someone was peeking in some of my windows. LOL TFS Liz

What a great poem! My craft room is piled up with so much stuff that I believe I will use someday! I need to clean off the desk just to craft!

Wow, who here can't relate to this? I just looked in my craft closet, Smiled and closed the door. It will wait for another day. LOL Hubby tried to toss a bow from Christmas...nope not happening. It was really pretty and you never know when it will be called upon for duty. LOL I copied it and will put it in the room. THANKS FOR SHARING
Penny

You know the sad part of this? As I was reading this, I kept thinking things like, "Geez I wish I had those milk bottles. What I could do with those. Or those miniature wheels." lol. But it just was so nice to read something that I can relate to so well. My things are valuable to me too even though most people look at my stuff with that "What is she saving THAT for?" look on their face lol.

Thanks, Vicky!
That describes ME!
I have everything on her list except 'fused coils' and 'SNOW shoes' (have shoes to paint on tho) and have coils of electrical wire that needs to be stripped for the copper wire.
The inside of the refrigerator door hangs on the pantry wall and holds can goods. Tractor
'plow' parts are painted sunflowers for the yard and there are gas tanks cut to make 'bells' when I get the posts in the ground to hang them on.
I could go on and on!!!!
People say 'Ask Nona, she probably has one, when they are looking for a 'prop' for a display!

Define the word caldera:
a large crater caused by the violent explosion of a volcano that collapses into a depression

Comes from the Spanish word for big pot.

like it... so nice when we share

I want to thank you for posting that too!
I've not got all that stuff but lots of other
stuff!! Got to save this!! tfs