Something Next

[Brownlie]

Is there fresh roasted coffee?
Is there warm cake for breakfast?

Yes there is dark coffee, yes there is cake.

Did the small blue plate wash its face?
Does the buttery table
spread under the sun like a meadow?

Yes, the twinkling plate and the salty table
are laid sunny side up.

Are there rats in the walls?
Are there scurrying roaches?

No, that's your ear squeaking.

Will there be work? Will there be words?
Will words hang in the air like china dolls?
Will their eyes be open?

Yes, there will be the happy and the sad,
and those that hang eyeless in-between.

Is there a dead fish under my pillow?
Is there a basket of kittens in the scullery?

Yes, the hungry will dream of fish and dead kittens.

Will there be something?

Yes, you may sleep or awaken,
while your body remembers what to do.
Yes, there will be something.

I'm not sure what's going on here, but I like the buttery table melting into the yellow sun. Would avoid starting sentence/lines with are or other to be verbs ( those are weaker than other types of verbs).