'Write me poem',
you asked,
So I gathered up
a few random adjectives,
jotted down some lines about
stars and eyes and roses by other names.
You read it but
it was not enough.
'Write how I make your life complete',
Like how the bed is completed
by your collection of faux silk
and acrylic velvet cushions
that you forbid me to throw on the floor,
And how my bookshelfs were crying out
for weirdly scented candles waxing their
greasy perfume onto first editions
and my favourite dictionary.
How Gangsta rap and Hip-hop
have nicely rounded out my 'too selective' music collection,
And your china faced dolls
have given the box room a much needed creep factor,
with their impartial faces cocked toward me on fractured necks,
with their stiff bodies and floppy limbs and one eye half closed,
in winking.
And doesn't every fridge need
out of date quark curdling around the crumpled foil lid,
and week old baby leaf salad, slimey and black.
Wouldn't I miss all those coffee cups,
under the bed and on every damn surface,
thick ringed in mocha and black and taupe,
some with a hint of green.
And now, I will always stand outside,
shoulders hunched against the wind, hands cupping the guttering match, inhaling in long rapid puffs until I feel dizzy.
How I can not quite picture your face
but see only the hurt in your eyes,
And switching on every light in the house
cannot dispel the darkness,
How no amount of Damon Gough can fill the silence
left behind after you read it.

Comments
insertponceyfre... | October 10, 2010 - 11:15
Humour and love and something very very sad towards the end. I think this one is really special Shoe.
skinner_jennifer | October 10, 2010 - 11:59
Hi shoe,
love this piece, especially the way you use words.
Congratulations on the cherries.
Jenny.
shoe | October 10, 2010 - 12:49
Thanks Insert, A long one for me, so I'm especially glad you liked it.
shoe | October 10, 2010 - 12:50
Thank you Jenny, for your kind words and for reading.
Highhat | October 10, 2010 - 17:27
I read this too- a nice long poem which I liked, simple but a bit sad at the end.
;)pia
fatboy74 | October 10, 2010 - 19:32
A rather beautiful and poignant story, very well told. moving ending. Well done Shoe. :-)
Silver Spun Sand | October 10, 2010 - 20:54
Just beautiful, shoe;-)
Tina
MistakenMagic | October 11, 2010 - 10:20
Absolutely jam-packed full of delicious details, Shirley. I especially love:
'And how my bookshelfs were crying out
for weirdly scented candles waxing their
greasy perfume onto first editions
and my favourite dictionary.'
Well done on the cherry!
Magic xxx
tcook | October 11, 2010 - 16:24
This is our Facebook and Twitter pick of the day.
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Get all your friends and relations to do the same! They won't get swamped - just a really good reading recommendation every day.
shoe | October 11, 2010 - 16:41
Thank you all for lovely comments and thanks Tony for P.O.D, I'm quite pink with it all!!!
Kahdai | October 12, 2010 - 11:47
Aah shoe, its partly funny to me, cannot figure it sad at the end, some parts of it made me think of me and my partners 'diferences' ;) . K x
samhennig | October 14, 2010 - 12:25
Shoe, this is a beautiful poem
shoe | October 14, 2010 - 15:51
Thanks Kahdai, yes it is about differences isn't it, and whether they matter in the scheme of things.
shoe | October 14, 2010 - 15:52
Thanks Sam, pleased you like it and took time too tell me so. :}
maggyvaneijk | October 14, 2010 - 21:01
love all the details of this poem, it works like a quilt, a patchwork of genuine love, and then there's the ending: as a reader I suddenly felt sad and very alone, and you must be talented to achieve that!
shoe | October 15, 2010 - 08:16
Thank you so very much.
kheldar | November 4, 2010 - 19:21
A perfect explanation, and a lesson to us all, of how two people sharing the same physical space does not constitute love, it is the sharing of the non-physical that is important.
There can be no doubt that this piece is more than worthy of P.O.D.
xx :--)