Potmaster 600, you have left
oatmeal dried on the cusp of my bowl
again, and I am shifting my weight
at the kitchen sink, picking at it with my
thumbnail, getting dishpan hands.
The silverware are soaking in a cup
of soapy water after another
wasted round in the dishwasher.
There are only twelve hours left until
the delivery truck arrives to take you
out of these cabinets, out of our house,
out of our town, to where they take
twenty-two year old appliances, and soon,
I will be rid of you, loading every dish
without pre-rinse, into a stainless-steel
mid-range tall tub high-efficiency
silverware jets included dishwasher,
one that doesn’t need to be called Potmaster—
it is and will be the master of the pots.
Published by Sarah M. Wells
Sarah M. Wells is an award-winning author of seven books: To Say One Million Times, WOW: Essays on Awe, Faith, and Family from America's Great Outdoors (and Some Hotel Rooms) - forthcoming in 2026, Ordinary Time: Meditations from the In-Between (2024), The Family Bible Devotional: Stories from the Gospels to Help Kids and Parents Love God and Love Others (2022), American Honey: A Field Guide to Resisting Temptation (2021), Between the Heron and the Moss (2020), The Family Bible Devotional: Stories from the Bible to Help Kids and Parents Engage and Love Scripture (2018), and Pruning Burning Bushes (2012). Sarah's work has been honored with four Pushcart Prize nominations, and her essays have appeared in the notable essays list in the Best American Essays 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018.
Sarah is the recipient of a 2018 Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council. She resides in Ashland, Ohio with her husband and three children.
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Sarah Marie Wells 
Jealous. I want one because I wash everything before it goes in the dishwasher and when it comes out. But…our apartment complex doesn't see the issue.
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