It All Came Out in the Wash

Cherry

By Silver Spun Sand

Sat, 26 Jul 2014
  • 4932 reads
14 comments
 
There was an understanding
along our road; brand new estate...
brand new mums, so we had a rota,
week and week about...
 
coffee mornings, in each others’ houses;
homemade cakes – gingerbread
and lemon-drizzle biscuits.
 
We talked of sore nipples, 
of nappy-rash, birthing and breeding, 
swopped recipes and remedies for teething 
 
spoke of life, something women rise to 
as easy, and as hard as baking bread,
getting kids off to sleep, or grass
stains out of socks. 
 
Every last drop we squeezed, 
each to each, like juice 
of a lemon.  
 
We thought we knew each other well,
inside out and back to front.  Only now...
decades since I realise, 
 
we’d never found the time to get to know
ourselves ...too busy being who we thought
we were
 
and never, for one second, imagining
what it would be like to bury
our first born child.
  
Certificate 12
Poem
Silver Spun Sand Poems
Autobiography

Comments

Submitted by lenchenelf on

...as milk from a breast with mastitis. Some pains cannot be prepared for, You handled this piece with sensitivity and knowing. A carefully worded build of peer networks and experience relied on, to a point where they cannot go, because all else was designed to prevent.

Respect as ever

Lena xx

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Lena - it's always extra special when I hear from you.  

You have it...in a nutshell.  Your thoughts, as ever, inspired.

Tina

 

 

Submitted by Starfish Girl on

Tina,

The ordinary, everyday life of young mothers culminating in tragedy. The comparison, and simplicity of the whole poem is wonderful.

Brought tears.

Take care

Lindy

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Obliged to you, Lindy.  Much appreciated.

Tina

 

Submitted by Mark Say on

Economy of language, everyday imagery, but big emotions.

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Mark - thanks.  Pleased you thought so.

Tina

 

Submitted by Ray Schaufeld on

So well described Tina, the mums and tots scene. The big question asked round our way was 'what time do they go down?' ie go to sleep for the afternoon nap! And yes, although the chance to meet as mums was vital, strict lines were drawn around all the apparent sharing and openness.  The loneliness you describe in the last verses is tragic.          Elsie

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Elsie...ah yes, that all important afternoon nap; how well I remember.  I was living  in Kent at the time, on the Isle of Grain...husband working at the power station.  Hard times, but happy ones.

My thanks to you for reading, and for your thoughts. 

Tina

 

Submitted by Frances Macaula... on

A well-deserved cherry, as always, Tina.

Soundcloud:  https://soundcloud.com/search?q=FrancesMF

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Thanks, Frances..good to hear from you.  

Shall follow your link up...sounds more than interestingsmiley  Hope you and yours are thriving, and enjoying life.

Tina

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Hi Tina,

you've put into words, so much of how bringing a baby into this world can be such a blessing and yet at the same time there is also the saddness of loss within your poem.

I agree that it's possible to loose our identity when a child comes along and often wonder myself what kind of person I would have been,  had I not given birth.  We can only stop and imagine what life would have been like.

As always your words touch me in a spiritual way.

Jenny.

 

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Jenny - as ever you have gleaned exactly what I was trying to convey but didn't know how to put into words.  And yet it seems that I went some of the way doing so.  

You, however, have put into words, far more eloquently than I could ever have done. the thinking behind this poem, and I am so very grateful.

Congrats on the cherry, by the way....I was thrilled when I noticed it this morning.  More than well deserved, and I am  looking forward to stealing some time, over the next few days, to read this, and the other chapters that I have missed.

A peaceful evening, Jenny

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

The little troubles of those days seemed so big, and yet we thought we'd arrived at such maturity with the new sphere of life. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Absolutely, Rhiannon.  Absolutely.

Tina