Sunday, July 15, 2012

Waiting

Beautifully esoteric rendering by R.A.D. Stainforth ...



Join The Mag creative writing group.
My earliest memory 
is a summer nap.

The box fan in the window
does not drown the French horn
moaning down scales, 
from the house next door.

Underbelly full, 
I lie helpless
on a pale duvet;
like tiny willow leaves,
my eyes tremble
to stay open.

I have time on my hands;

small fleshy vessel, waiting.


tk, July 2012


image: Yesterday's Dreams by Jack Vettriano

62 comments:

  1. I can hear that French horn lulling you to sleep. I love-

    like tiny willow leaves,
    my eyes tremble
    to stay open

    ReplyDelete
  2. nice write miss tess... i am suppose to use waiting as title too... but realizing where my story is going i changed it...

    have a great summer Maam!

    JJRod'z

    ReplyDelete
  3. mmmm..i could just curl up now....lovely evocative work..x Kay

    ReplyDelete
  4. Each of my four children was born in the Fall .. summer pregnancies all. Your poem reminded me of those hot summer sleepy lazy days - spent waiting.
    Beautiful poetry .. Would love to hear you read it as well ....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dear Tess: Indelible memories; "Underbelly full" you were but a babes in arms~!!! Yes those memories are filtering back now; thanks for the tweak~!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lovely summer memory ~ Thanks for the prompt ~

    ReplyDelete
  7. gorgeous ...lazy summers waiting for little miracles x x x

    ReplyDelete
  8. I perceive two perspectives here: one is that of the grown woman reminiscing at the window, and the other is of the girl she was laying on the duvet looking up at her mother. Very good piece.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Irish...I'm glad you picked up on my other perspective...

      Delete
  9. Tess, I began my post writing to your words which evoked summer's air for me. I am pleased someone like Vettriano is in the world.

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a lovely, soothing, gentle read. Nap time for a child. The fight to stay awake when all our being wills us to want to sleep is futile, isn't it. Going through the scales on a French horn would have driven me nuts. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  11. evocative - a tenderness of first memories still fresh all those years later... I fell hard for that second stanza

    ReplyDelete
  12. I just adore that second stanza!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Beautiful!

    (My first memory is of me and my brother waking from a nap, my mother standing by the window, reaching up with her arms, opening the curtains, and afternoon sunlight streaming in.)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Truly, truly lovely poem.
    My earliest memory is of my Dad picking me up from the wooden verandha when I was about four! It was a freezing winter's night. He asked me what the heck was I doing. I told him that he'd said to Mum at tea-time that Jack Frost would be coming to the garden tonight and I just wanted to see him.

    ReplyDelete
  15. lovely poem and reading both. "like tiny willow leaves my eyes tremble to stay open." ah.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thank you for 'Waiting' Tess. I love the child like attitude. So tender and terrific. =D

    ReplyDelete
  17. beautiful tess, you've made waiting ethereal and spiritual.

    ReplyDelete
  18. not sure if my previous comment surfaced.
    tess, this is beautiful, you have made 'waiting'
    a spiritual process.

    ReplyDelete
  19. The summer nap setting implies a gentle a soft moment, but the final "fleshy vessel waiting" reminds me of a child bride waiting for what must be done. A fascinating poem!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Gemma, I'm glad you appreciate the layers here...

      Delete
    2. I love the window fan, love the French horn, love the fluttery eyes trying to stay open, love everything except the words "fleshy vessel"... after all that nostalgic soft focus, it was like walking through a lovely garden and finding a cold slug.

      Delete
  20. French horn moaning down the scales, is the best - Thanks-

    ReplyDelete
  21. Really love and sweet it had a dream feel to it. Nice write,That I have enjoyed

    ReplyDelete
  22. oh yes those pregnant naps...absolutely stunned into sleep

    ReplyDelete
  23. A summer nap...irresistible piece!

    ReplyDelete
  24. after the day i had...a nap would be nice....it was a simpler time back then...and naps were not a bad thing at all ...wish we still got them...

    ReplyDelete
  25. What a lovely memory! Beautiful imagery here.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Any poem with the mention of a box fan becomes instantly gripping. There is no more relaxing sound.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Lazing on the bed is a privilege. It comes when everything else are just as lazy and slow-moving. Time in our hands is a giveaway. Wonderful take Tess!

    Hank

    ReplyDelete
  28. i like where you went with this....and enjoyed your words...thanks for sharing Tess

    ReplyDelete
  29. Tess,

    Curious how an early simple memory comes to the mind repeatly while most stay buried in the trunk of forgetfulness forever.
    There must be some meaning hidden there, oui?
    rel

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rel, I'm fascinated by the concept, as well. Why this particular instance out of thousands?

      Delete
  30. Nicely written ... loved it :-)

    ReplyDelete
  31. The vessel has proved a good 'un !

    ReplyDelete
  32. Your own yesterday’s dreams reminding us of those early summer naps. A little older and it would be the sound of other children playing in the street whilst we had to rest. Lovely poem Tess.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Small, fleshy vessel, waiting...wonderful, sums it up!

    ReplyDelete
  34. Those early memories come in flashes and blurps, but it's crazy how vivid they can be. Simpler times...

    ReplyDelete
  35. This is every nap I ever took as a child...complete with errant noises that would sort of distill into my consciousness while I struggled unsuccessfully to stay awake.

    What I love best:

    like tiny willow leaves,
    my eyes tremble
    to stay open.

    ReplyDelete
  36. This is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Lovely. Replete with memories. Few things moan like a french horn.

    ReplyDelete
  38. much to read between those lines of memories ...

    ReplyDelete
  39. Love this! Such wonderful memories.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Perfect Tess, as always. Any mention of Willows and I'm napbound.

    (Just finished Brian Selznick's amazing 'Wonderstruck'... a kid's book. In it, there's a used bookshop... one of several structures the plot revolves around... named Kincaid's. Couldn't help thinking of your adorations.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Steven...a perfect name for a secondhand bookshop...

      Delete
  41. loved this....feeling sleepy this afternoon....

    ReplyDelete
  42. Lovely poem of childhood, late childhood - I remember afternoons like that with window fan (no French horn!) Great touch. k.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Beautiful! You brought me right back to my earliest memory as well!

    ReplyDelete
  44. It definitely is interesting to look back at our first memory. This is a perfectly ordinary memory, so why this one sticks in your mind is a puzzle. But it is a beautifully written memory, and I can definitely hear the French horn!

    ReplyDelete
  45. Really, really good. Her body language speaks of a memory.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Comparing drowsy eyes to tiny willow leaves trembling is genius. Sheer genius. Loved this poem, loved the reading too.

    ReplyDelete
  47. "tiny willow leaves" : the title of your next volume of poems I hope.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Beautifully done. My first memory was of my father holding me on the back step of the house
    we were watching a plane skywriting

    ReplyDelete
  49. ....and time does seem to go so slow for us when we are small doesn't it?....And then we grow up and it goes toooo fast! Love this Tess! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  50. Top Notch stuff! Say hi to RAD for me!

    ReplyDelete
  51. Dearest Readers! Your kind and generous comments mean so very much! I thank you. My muse thanks you.

    ReplyDelete
  52. "tiny willow leaves"--perfect!--as is everything about your compact, intense poem. I love it. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete

Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)