Neighbour (April 1)

Gold cherry

By ivoryfishbone

Sun, 01 Apr 2007
  • 2806 reads
6 comments
 

I'm putting out recycling
telling off the dog, she's barking
at the gate - see
my neighbour for the first time
in three months. For three months
he's been at his daughter's bedside.
He tells me they took
a haemorrhage the size of her hand
through a window in her skull.
It's not the sort of talk
we have - our words are
not strokes, bleeds, hearts, infections.
We go in our front doors
and close them - our words are small -
weather or the moss in the guttering.

Certificate U
Story
Autobiography

Comments

Submitted by tcook on

Now this I like - from one of our very best poets who sadly has been missing from ABC for too long. It says so much in so few words with the brilliant image of the moss in the gutters - hidden but growing, like the tumour in the head or the stuff left unsaid between neighbours. A piece of pure genius.

A blast from the past but still a pick of the day.

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Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/justuff/9363954800/

Submitted by celticman on

perhaps we all should have windows in our skull. Make things easier. 

 

Submitted by stevepoet on

Lovely stuff!

Submitted by oldfishbone on

Hey there Tony. That's great, thanks. Unfortunately I am no longer able to log in as ivoryfishbone due to having a defunct email. I don't remember writing this poem but I do remember the time when my neighbour's daughter was so perilously ill. She's fine now by the way. A x

 

 

Submitted by tcook on

We can fix that email problem if you like - just let me know your new email and I'll attach it to the account.

Great to hear from you - how's tricks?

Submitted by oldfishbone on

I'm grand thanks Tony, writing plays these days!

Was reflecting yesterday about how abctales was my social life & inspiration back in the old days. I'm glad it's been saved!

A

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