It matters to me, much more than it should,
that drinking glasses stand sorted by size,
that bowls are neatly nested, that my good
dessert plates sparkle in their stack. The prize
that perfect order grants is hard to name.
It isn’t peace, exactly, but a sort
of temporary triumph in a game
that never ends, played not on field or court
but on these shelves, a three-dimensional
ungridded Scrabble board where dishes make
the words, unspellable but meaningful;
a plate misplaced means an unsettling break
in symmetry and sense. Neatness may not
win much, but there are times it’s all I’ve got.

*****

Jean L. Kreiling is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently Home and Away (2025). Her work has been awarded the Able Muse Book Award, the Frost Farm Prize, the Rhina Espaillat Poetry Prize, and the Kim Bridgford Memorial Sonnet Prize, among other honors.

‘Kitchen Cabinet Game’ was originally published in Crab Orchard Review.