Somedays we need to have those kitchen conversations
For education, to ease frustration and increase motivation
My grandmother's kitchen was the heartbeat of the home
You had to get gone when grown folks were talking
Sisters strategized in kitchens across the south long before
Rights were civil
My grandmother fed the needy from her garden
She planted seeds that sustained me through the years
She dried my tears when my parents love derailed
She made me feel happy and loved
Before the color purple there were quilting circles
Where women shared and cared for one another
It was the order of the day
It was a heavy load when your man walked dark dirt roads
Knowing he could be harassed or killed at will
Still they were brave
Not sure about you but my grandmother
Prayed, Slayed and stayed true to my grandfather
Dark Berry beauty that she was, deserving of applause
She was soft spoken and humble but commanded respect
We were taught to love others, help those in needed
Indeed, I know where it came from...Miss Rachel's kitchen
There is a sense of pride that remained when she died
I cannot remember how many years I cried because her wisdom and love made
sense
Her arms were wide like her smile and her heart was bigger than the ocean
I reminisce with beautiful devotion because she was
My Everything...her love for humanity lives in me
When I sense the slightest bit of frustration
I think back to those kitchen conversations
From: Uptown Déjà Vu
Summary
“Kitchen Conversations” by Jimmie Ware is a poem centered on memory, love and relationships, family. The poem develops its subject through recurring images and shifts in emotional pressure rather than reducing the experience to a single statement.
Analysis
Voice
A personal, first-person speaker combines recollection with direct emotional address.
Style and form
The poem is line-driven, first-person. The poem moves by accumulation: images, references, and tonal turns build on one another, so meaning emerges from their relationships as much as from narrative sequence.
Themes and imagery
Its strongest thematic currents include memory, love and relationships, family, music. Concrete images give those abstractions physical weight, while changes in diction and pace keep the poem from settling into a single emotional register.
Reading the poem
A productive way to read “Kitchen Conversations” is to watch how its images change function as the poem progresses. Details that initially establish scene or memory become emotional evidence. The result is a poem whose argument is carried through association, rhythm, and image as much as through explicit statement.
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Source & rights
Source: Uptown Déjà Vu
Rights: Copyright controlled by the rights holder. Published here with permission.