Tricia Knoll

Good Enough

The proud mother, behind the child’s painting, urged blood
red for the seesaw. The little girl stopped– good enough

She kept ten boxes for all her stuff
littering the garage full of dust– good enough

The old man drew a matrix for staining their deck
in quadrants, his wife rebelled in stripes good enough

Half the ingredients for chicken piccata were missing
from the shelf when she sizzled up the garlic good enough

He tried to make the spider’s web into a glove
and the spider ran away, disposed of good enough

The lady scrubbed and scrubbed her tub
but silverfish slid in and holed up good enough

The editor ditched simplistic fluff
about 10 ways to lose 10 pounds good enough

The camper’s beef jerky, miles from camp, was tough
and salty, hard on teeth good enough

The psychiatrist drinks spiced up rum,
leaves out the butter and the hot good enough

The towels drying on the laundry line are rough
but smell of wind, sun and summer good enough

This girl makes lists of how she fails at simple acts of love
hugging, kissing, and backing in good enough.

Tricia Knoll is a Vermont poet. She has nine published books in print. Wild Apples (Fernwood Press, 2024) highlights downsizing, moving 3,000 miles from Oregon to Vermont. The Unknown Daughter contains 27 persona poems — people reacting to the Tomb of the Unknown Daughter. Website: triciaknoll.com