Sharp Knives

The job is to ensure
that the kitchen knives 
stay sharp

Sweeping the blades
at thirty degrees
across the diamond stone

to be certain 
they will cut
when called upon

and to make a place
for them to hang
within easy reach when needed

There was a time
when a kitchen knife
cut meat and roots and throats

with equanimity
and no one thinking
it should be otherwise

as the red gushing neck
of the hen too old
to lay any more

promised nothing
but a good dinner
and a hearty soup

Just part of the cycle
of the household
That whole life and death thing

which we no longer have
to think about
as we go about our day