Home Plate

Each pattern
Hand painted
Or not
Is invited
To spend time
Upon my table.

With their themes
For each seasons
Celebrations
Sets no longer
Whole.

Trademarks of
Individual character
Sets in
With chips and scratches
And missing pieces
They receive
The food
That warms
Your soul.

Some hibernate
Year to year
Or longer
And like a farmer
Who rotates soil
I select the
Appropriate set
For the occasion.

Mixed and matched
They become one
They know not
Race, religion, gender.

They are all
Equal sets
To me
To be shared by
Family, friends, neighbors.

So please pass
The plate
That welcomes all
And be careful
Not to break
It
For broken plates
And ones choices
Do not
Mend well
From harsh words
At all.

By Lorraine Stark