Writing at a whim

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Something About The Trees

Something About The Trees by Linda Pastan 

I remember what my father told me:
There is an age when you are most yourself.
He was just past fifty then,
Was it something about the trees that make him speak?

There is an age when you are most yourself.
I know more than I did once.
Was it something about the trees that make him speak?
Only a single leaf had turned so far.

I know more than I did once.
I used to think he'd always be the surgeon.
Only a single leaf had turned so far,
Even his body kept its secrets.

I used to think he'd always be the surgeon,
My mother was the perfect surgeon's wife.
Even his body kept its secrets.
I thought they both would live forever.

My mother was the perfect surgeon's wife,
I can still see her face at thirty.
I thought they both would live forever.
I thought I'd always be their child.

I can still see her face at thirty.
When will I be most myself?
I thought I'd always be their child.
In my sleep it's never winter.

When will I be most myself?
I remember what my father told me.
In my sleep it's never winter.
He was just past fifty then.

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/8:59 PM

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Realms Of Gold

REALMS OF GOLD by Linda Pastan


1. RECESS

I used to think
the cover or a book
was a door I could pull shut
after me,
that I was as safe
between pages
as between the clean sheets
of my bed at home.
The children in those books
were not like me.
They had the shine
of bravery or luck,
and their stories had endings.
But when Miss Colton called
"Yoo Hoo, Third Grade,"
and I had to come running,
the book suddenly
slippery under my arm, sometimes
those children ran with me.


2. THE QUARREL

"what are you doing,"
he asks, and I turn a page,
then another.
"Are you still reading?"
And I pile page
after page, like sandbags,
between us.
I'm going to tear
that book out of your hands,
he says, but I don't hear him,
the sound of pages turning
is like a far train approaching,
and Anna has just
entered the station.


3. FINAL INSTRUCTIONS

When the time comes,
make my grave
with clean sheets
and a comforter of flowers.
If you come to call, rest
against the stone
which will lean
like a bookend
over my head.
Make yourself
at home there.
Read to me!

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/12:11 AM

about me

vanessa.
boring and inscrutable.
satirical and opinionated.
sardonic but innocuous.
enigmatic and taciturn.
pococurante but caring.
neurotic but with equanimity.
you wouldn't get me at all,
cause I wouldn't let you.

quote

"Let me tell you this: Some of life's questions you have to answer, some you just have to dance your face off and scream "no comment."" --- John Mayer

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previously
my past


you people

3 of us
Cell
Desiree
Eunice
Freesia
Janice
Jasmine Wee
Jessie
Jiaying
Kristal
Pearlly
Shiyun
Tingen
Wanwen
Weilien
Xinyi