Setting the table (first edit )

[Wjames]

Setting the Table

(edit Erthona, ellajam, billy)




The microwave oven came for Christmas, Is oven necessary? I always just call it a microwave. I also don't thing you need the comma at the end of this line - I don't naturally pause.
the same year as the Big Bang,
and we reheated gravy
like it was nobody's business
whether we said Grace first,
or not. I like the combination of Big Bang, and a lack of grace. It also makes me wonder what you mean by big bang, which I liked for an opening stanza.

We watched it bubbling over,
and bubbled over ourselves, a little,
drunk with optimism
and toasting to now,
finally arrived with a box of wine. What arrived with a box of wine? The optimistic feeling? The microwave, along with the optimistic feeling? This stanza's a little confusing to me.

We had a three year affair
with three minute popcorn,
and  whatever our lot was,
the plot was for the house to smell of theatre.
That was good enough for us. I really like this stanza.

My mother served up trifle
in a champagne glass
thin enough for any sweet-tooth
to bite clean through, I think the line-breaks here don't really add anything. If I were you I would combine the first and second lines, and the third and fourth lines.
but her coffee was total shit-
a shame because some of us
looked forward to it, I don't naturally pause at this comma.
even more than the gravy.

She always kept the gravy hot,
but too often there was more to the meat
than we could gloss over
with chewed fat and drippings.

This year we made hot dogs-
in the microwave,
so the place doesn't smell
of the same home-cooked play as last year.
It's so much easier for things to get harder now. I like this line - I take harder to mean overcooked/dried out.
We're more prepared for big bangs
when you press the wrong button
or keep something in too long. I like how you brought it back to the big bang to end.

I like the poem, just a few knits for me here and there.