What Love is Not

by Marilyn Hazelton

You think love
will take care of
everything. Let me tell you,
love is not a hammer.

When you want a nail
pounded into wood, love will not
do it. For that, you need
a hammer.

What else is love not?

Love is not an oven,
not a plow, not
a curtain to cover
your window.

Love will not feed you
in the long, cold winter
when the potato cellar
is empty.

Love will go.

It will go and what will you have?
An acquaintance across the table
and children
your nerves can barely stand. Then,
where will you be?

Where will you be?

Get a hammer, an oven, a plow,
a curtain to cover your window.
Fill your cellar with potatoes,
turnips, carrots, enough
to last the long, cold winter.