Self Portrait with Sieve and Colander
Lana Hechtman Ayers
Where is Rod Serling when I need him?
Unnerving things happen to me all the time now.
My mind’s become a veritable Lost with no Found.
Computer files misfiled or missing,
names vanished into unrelenting brain fog,
most of my favorite words absconded, along with
the swift route to the post office and back home.
I am searching for a shirt in my dirty laundry
and find instead my grandmother’s wedding ring,
gone in the last move with the disappeared box
I presumed, rose gold band beset with ruby
and diamond chips, I roll it around in my hand,
pondering how such a treasure missing for years
can turn up in a hamper I empty weekly.
I am foot where my mouth should be,
a cheese grater where grace should reside,
a sieve for dates and appointments,
a clogged sifter that can’t shift the lumps,
a whisk when it comes to sorting,
a colander than drains away all artifice
to pure vulnerability.
About the Author
Lana Hechtman Ayers is a former New Yorker whose favorite color is the swirl of Van Gogh's The Starry Night. She’s shepherded over 150 poetry titles into print as managing editor of 3 presses. Still Life with Sorrow & Joy (The Poetry Box, 2026) is her most recent collection and she has poems appearing in The Bluebird Word, Peregrine, One Art, and elsewhere. From her home in Oregon on clear, quiet nights she can hear the Pacific ocean whispering to the moon.