the cutlery from montgomery wards

i remember squeezing open

the slats of our venetian blinds,

peering out the window
of our one bedroom apartment
in maryland

and watching my first
ex wife

walking up the street with a toaster
oven under her

arm and a pink suitcase in her
other hand.

heading back to her mother's house
a stones throw away.

the toaster oven was brand new,
hardly a slice
had been buttered or browned.

a wedding gift from her uncle

Felix from a month or two ago.

i've always wondered
about the oven. why that?
why not the mixer, or the blender?

why not
the afghan her grandmother knitted
for us
that i was yet to ball
up and put into the trash room

right outside our front door.

what about the fine cutlery from
Montgomery Wards?  

i discovered later that she took

the last piece

of the wedding cake too, 

wrapped in foil in the freezer.

i'll never forgive her for that.

i can still taste it

till this day.