Skip to main content

Bury Me In Turquoise

Evening was spying from the apple orchard
the first time I opened my eyes
under Great-Grandma's turquoise afghan
I heard my parents dancing in the kitchen.

A little later, Grandma would announce evening
across the yards to end our game
one out, two on and the inning was over
in a dash to clean our hands before Grace.

Evening became an exotic land;
the home of sex and sin and petty vandalism
to be invaded by silly boys armed with hormones
looking for something pretty to hold on to.

Evening starts when I put my briefcase down.
We share it with the salad bowl and laughter.
It is the safest place I know
in our golden little home.

The sound of evening is in my daydreams
in the muttering of its nightclub clientele
beneath a boozy saxophone and cocktail clinks.
It sounds like sequins and purple.

Evening will wait outside the church
when my son carries me on his shoulder
past the bagpiper and into St. Rose's.
Bury me in turquoise and strike up the band.

(this poem was written for the "One Single Impression Prompt #153: Evening")

Comments

  1. What becomes of evening over time-as we change, it changes. Strike up the band now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This was so beautiful. The first two stanzas were my favourites.
    Loved the concept used to write this poem.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry for the late reply. I didn't mean to be so rude. Thank you Sandy adn Aayushi for reading and for your comments.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh how lovely, I can remember this kind of experience myself!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Almost Invisible

No outstanding warrants on me I need to commit a crime Because no one knows me Somebody has always done worse Dad never missed knowing I could have done better Five friends at his funeral Never heard of me.  I was the smoke in the censer Shook over his casket Every morning shower, I make plans To change the course of history Every evening home,  I’m shattered Seeking the glue of vodka I can’t sow peace in my garden Without killing seedlings And mutating every myth of life Somewhere between skin and muscle Is the malignant cancer of a lie Somewhere between eye and sole Is the expanse of hope. 

Beach Scene

Play with my hair. Pull the world in as close as the last drops of Long Island Sound that slip from your swimsuit down across the back of your thigh. Play with my hair under freckles of laughter, syllables and chirps, that christen us like parades of soap bubbles floating from the abstract crowd. Play with my hair before we play in the surf where we’ll shock parents. We’ll be inappropriate, the way we keep touching. We’ll blast “Youth!” in spite of our age. Play with my hair Our whispers sequester The crowd and claim this blanket As the Nation of Us Our consensus of two Inviolate, immutable and perfect.

Super Hero

We've got bone We've got muscle and feet on the earth.  Arms that reach Eyes that see and hearts to bleed.  Infect us with magic.  Irradiate us with light.  Expel us from a planet.  Enervate the vigilante. Crack every chrysalis Let the mutant emerge.  Celebrate mutation in unique dance Spread your cape over the earth Spin your web and fly Conceive of every device against evil. Get drunk on the possibilities of becoming.  Explode into solitary martial violence.  Bam! You'll slam against a wall of evil.  Crash! You'll bash the body of your villain.  Wham! Your heart and hate will jam your soul. Smash! Love will slash itself from within Whoosh! All that is you will fly into space And your feet will stand on the earth.  We lost you when you left to become  Muscle and bone beyond your suit.  You rose above us for us to reach A spot in heaven for us to aim...