Sandra Heska King

daring to open doors

Window on Writing: The Hoosier Cabinet

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At the end of chapter 12 of God in the Yard, L.L. Barkat suggests a writing exercise.

Begin with a simple jotting of the objects and people around you . . .  Choose just one of the images and make a second list, focused particularly on the item’s attributes . . . Next, try writing a quick poem or vignette, beginning with the question, “God, are you in ______” . . . This isn’t about writing the perfect piece. It’s about playing with words and thoughts to open yourself to the presence and possibility of God and others. ~God in the Yard, p. 118-119

My list: Chicken lamp, window, table, high chair, Hoosier cabinet, bird feeder, refrigerator, cookie jar, coffee pot, egg carton, toaster.

I guess you can guess where I am.

I chose “Hoosier cabinet” and listed: white porcelain top, cool, frosted glass, grained wood, history, family, drawers, doors, knob, storage, corner.

And I played like so:

The Hoosier Cabinet

God, are you in the Hoosier cabinet

the porcelain white and cool

top rolled and history frosted?

Are you engrained in memories and

moved from house to house

to house to barn

to house to house

restored and cornered in my heart.

How did you begin?

Where do you call home?

What stories do you store?

Note: The cabinet belonged to my husband’s great-grandparents, Frank and Carrie. He remembers that it sat in the big farmhouse and then the little one and then in the back kitchen of our current house where his mother did laundry. He does not remember it after this house was moved to its present spot until his parents gave it to us to restore. It very likely found a place in the barn for a few years along with the “rat cupboard,” which was used to store cow medicines.

Comments

  2. Carol J. Garvin says

    What a wonderful old cabinet, Sandra! It’s interesting how kitchens went from individual pieces of furniture, to all built-in cupboards, to today’s design that makes built-ins looks like groups of individual pieces. The style circle!

    This is a great exercise for getting us to focus on specifics that we might otherwise overlook… giving due appreciation to items that we otherwise might take for granted in our surroundings, and recognizing God’s place in the commonplace. 🙂

    • Sandra says

      There must be something engrained in us to have that attachment to our roots.

      This *was* a fun exercise. Now I need to write about the cookie jar . . . it’s empty.

  3. Karen Lange says

    I like your poem, and I like this idea. What a good exercise to make us ponder, but write too. 🙂 Glad you shared with us! The cabinet sounds like a treasure.

    Was working in the garden this morning and thought of you. Attacked the early and small weeds, but am thinking I need to splurge and get some hay or other mulch to help keep the weeds at bay. I WILL NOT repeat last year’s scenario with the never ending and abundant weed scene. I did hear, though, that it was an unusual year in that respect. So I guess it wasn’t just you and me!

    Happy weekend,
    Karen

    • Sandra says

      I haven’t even started the garden! Too wet for the neighbor to get his tractor in to plow it up. The farmers can’t even get to the fields yet. I already have a healthy crop of weeds. As in jungle.

  4. Mari Mayborn says

    “…the porcelain white and cool…top rolled and history frosted?” Sandra, the entire poem is lovely…with the picture of moving and moving it over time, a vessel of memories. Imagine, it all unfolded when you were invited out to play. And you did.

    What a delightful invitation, LL Barkat: “It’s about playing with words and thoughts to open yourself to the presence and possibility of God and others.” I’ve simply got to get God in the Yard; I’ve enjoyed every excerpt I’ve read.

  5. Sheila Lagrand says

    Lovely, Sandy…just lovely. It reads as if you were really listening to the hoosier as it told you its story.

    I don’t come from a family that has multi-generational rootedness in a single place. I wonder how that would be. I do have a few family treasures, though. 🙂

    • Sandra says

      Thanks, Sheila. My husband was the sixth generation on this farm, though he doesn’t farm. I guess that would make my son the seventh. 🙂

      I love those family treasures and the connections they give us.

    • Sandra says

      Thanks! :We have antique glass coffee and spice jars that once were fastened inside, too. 🙂

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