by Arun Kapur
Unlocked
The house you live in has rooms you’ve never seen
until you sleep, and there, within the corners
of a rambling dream, you discover a sitting room,
a porch, a bedroom you’d never entered before,
lovely spaces, filled with unfamiliar things,
but you like them nonetheless, this antique clock,
that butter-wooded table, this plush red rug.
How on earth did you miss them all these years,
living within the same four square walls?
How small the usual quarters we keep ourselves to,
the deep-stained mug of tea, the favorite chair
that cradles your shoulders just so. It is too easy
to let comfort corral us. Let us not forget
the children who find grand kingdoms in the crevices
between cupboard and wall. Go on, now. Open that door,
the one you overlooked these fleeting years
we’ve called so busy, we’ve called an average life.
See where it takes you, this ordinary magic,
this wonder you’ve gathered, more space to welcome the world.
Jo Angela Edwins has published poems in various venues, including recently in Thimble Literary Magazine, Red Rock Review, Twelve Mile Review, and Breakwater Review. Her chapbook Play was published in 2016. She has received awards from Winning Writers, Poetry Super Highway, and the SC Academy of Authors and is a Pushcart Prize, Forward Prize, and Bettering American Poetry nominee. She lives in Florence, SC, where she serves as poet laureate of the Pee Dee region of South Carolina.
Arun Kapur is a mental health advocate that uses the medium of the arts to raise awareness of stigmas and well-being. Enigmatic. Charismatic. Passionate. Lover of life and all truth that binds us together. He believes that through art, life is created. Twitter: @arunkapur333.