Keeper

For Christmas I got a motto
To be hung in the kitchen
so you can perpetually absorb it when you could have been satisfied cooking eggs
it said

“Eat,
love
and laugh”

The giver was a serial motto keeper
displayer of profane inane phrases

“Wine improves with age, I improve with wine”
“keep calm
and
eat chocolate”
“Chocolate, Coffee and Men
…the richer, the better”

are some of the things on her fridge
cupboard knob
garden window

I wondered if I could become a keeper
Whether it showed extreme mindfulness
Herculean strength of character
complex whimsical wit
to be ambushed by
beaten repeatedly
every time you need the salt

This took me down an unexpected path encountering Words In Your Face
I had never considered it in isolation
I started experiencing road signs like divine messages

Keep right
but I hate Theresa May and you could have said please

if we are mere ants
in relation to the cosmos
why do we have the useless ability to be subjective about everything

One night I got intoxicated on coffee wine chocolate and men

“Dieing could ruin your living”
“keep calm
and
don’t murder”
“Why have chocolate when you could have a sense of decency about the world”

scribbled on my fridge
kitchen wall
oven door

I lifted the chopping board

“Mottos are bastards”
which didn’t make sense

I kept that
for when I make eggs

by Julie Pallot