knife pain between the shoulder blades

Loosens my grip

A spasm of overworked muscles

Lightning storm of nerves

Stabbing

Then a freeze as the pain cresendos and ebbs away

Sharp as the splinters from my favorite mixing bowl as it crashes to the floor

Twenty years of banana bread and burnt pancakes

In shattered recrimination

Newly-wed Gift from my mother-in-law’s kitchen

The memory of a bride nests like a trio of bowls older than myself

Fading Old Dutch couple pattern turquoise on milk white

“What was that?” Cries out the the living room

“Nothing much” answers

As I reach for the dustpan

And sweep away an old wife’s memory