The power cut was over,
the lights came on and the TV
muttered to life. They opened my door
to fetch a few bottles of beer
and then forgot about me,
standing in the shadows,
my mushy insides knotting
with ice crystals, shuddering.
A week later, they found it,
the source of a lingering stink
they blamed on the kitchen sink:
a sinister landscape of bacteria
with salmonella and listeria,
hairy fungi fruiting fluffy spores
on the wrinkly remains of beetroot,
for consumption (human or otherwise) unfit.
Kim M. Russell, 2017

My response to dVerse Poets Pub Tuesday Poetics: Chilling Out!
Lillian says that a refrigerator is something most of us take for granted – unless we’re camping, lose our electricity, or because it dies of old age. Her story about trying to replace one in a high-rise with a galley kitchen requiring a very narrow refrigerator was eye-opening for me – living in a cottage with a fairly spacious kitchen, I’d not thought about it. But I can appreciate Lill’s fridge fetish now she finally has a new one!
Which is why, for today’s prompt, Lill wants us to walk into our kitchens, open our refrigerators and take a good look. What’s in it? What’s way in the back on the bottom shelf? What’s in the freezer? What’s on the outside? Magnets? Pictures? Kids’ drawings?
She asks us to pick something specific that resides in or on the outside of the fridge, and let it be the inspiration for our poems. We should include the specific item in the body of our poems and can include more than one item if we wish. We can be fanciful, serious or just chill with Lill!
Wow, this is awesome, Kim.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Marley!
LikeLike
Oh my — what a photo! Love your refrigerator voice here. Well done! Hope many will decide to “chill with Lill.” 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
🙂
LikeLike
Ha.. This made me recall the time I found a mummified banana in a pocket… what a great image, but slightly revolting too… poor refrigerator.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A mummified banana – they smell weird when they’re not rotting! Can’t imagine how your pocket must have smelt! Have you ever seen The Young Ones’ fridge? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMb4NogC4us
LikeLike
Yuck! Yes, it happened to me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLike
wonderful in all its rotting glory….
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Looks familiar 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lot’s of fun – I liked how the voice changed in the second stanza – and the image is fantastic (and familiar)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Peter.
LikeLike
Ew! And I mean that in the best possible way! Love the voice and how it gets even for the felt neglect.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We had a couple of weeks when the door shelves in our fridge mysteriously jumped out when we opened it, and bottles and jars smashed. Hasn’t happened recently, fingers crossed!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Who ya gonna call…? Ghost Busters!! There’s a bit of fiction in that story, Kim. A ghost that hangs out in the frig. Might be a fun kid lit project – turns into a food fight, maybe?
LikeLiked by 1 person
😊
LikeLike
It’s alive! (K)
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
That beetroot in the refrigerator was what we used to call a “science experiment”.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I had a roommate in the Air Force who got an assignment to Germany. I never knew he had used the dorm room refrigerator, and I only kept soda in there. When cleaning it for a dormitory inspection, I discoverer three furry green puff-balls in the vegetable drawer. As I watched them burst apart as they descended into the trash dumpster, I remembered he always was eating oranges. No smell to speak of, but I never was able to get the green rings out of the plastic of the drawer.
Yeah, refrigerators are like that! Great poem. Couldn’t look at the image, though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love the anecdote, Charley! Have you ever seen the British TV comedy programme The Young Ones – the things in their fridge speak!
LikeLike
No, but I’ll look it up. There is also an old Far Side cartoon, “When potato salad goes bad.” This is a link to it: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/170292429630169665/
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That picture is an exact statement of your defrosted landscape. I can smell it already, and the pov of the fridge, cool!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope I didn’t out you off your food!
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, i’ve grown potatoes, onions and sprouted garlic in the veggie cooler at the bottom. You may have discovered a new life form, a cure for some deadly plague
LikeLiked by 1 person
I must admit it often happens with me. But the voice of your refrigerator made me feel guilty. I better be careful with stuff inside, next time! Loved reading it Kim!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ew! as in Jimmy Fallon’s skits..I have a quick, low tolerance for such things…afraid I’d lose my lunch if witnessed,! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLike
Oh, heebie jeebies…I think some of that mold has seeped into my fridge poem.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mwoahahaha!
LikeLike
Oooooooo – hate that ‘stuff’ you find in the back of the fridge.
Great take on the prompt!
LikeLiked by 1 person
😊
LikeLike
Ah, the perils of refrigerator neglect! A great read!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Frank!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The refrigerator tells this cautionary tale so eloquently. Great poem! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Sue! 😊
LikeLike
vowwww..awesome indeed..
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLike