My Cheese Soufflé Has Collapsed!

With apologies to Frank O’Hara

I was buzzing about the kitchen
when suddenly I realized
it was way past time for him
to come home he’ll have some
story concocted as to why
he’s an hour later than he promised
the car is acting up again
and wouldn’t start he had to work
late there’s a blizzard in New York
it looks like rain in California
I want him home now
oh soufflé I love you get up.

Ruth Bavetta’s poems have appeared in Rattle, North American Review, Nimrod, Rhino, Tar River Review, Slant, Atlanta Review and many others, and are included in several anthologies. Her books include Fugitive Pigments, and Flour, Water, Salt (FutureCycle), Embers on the Stairs (Moontide), and No Longer at This Address (Aldrich).