twenty seven inch drop in stove

your stove dies
in the middle
of cooking
dinner.
the chicken is raw
the potatoes
hard
and unboiled
in the pot.
it was a good stove
circa
1968. hard
to complain. it
lasted that
long. how many
meals it cooked
through
the holidays,
through
the winters
and storms,
how many hands
have pulled out
a pan
or dish, or fried
an egg
with its heat.
state of the art
for that
era,
push buttons,
the red lit light
when on.
the clock
that stopped
behind
the yellowed
glass.
the sound it made
when warmed.