waitress poems

Monday, August 07, 2006

An Opening

In the body. When you’re young,
it’s only sex,
the blinding distractions
of light. Now hospital scenes
intrude--

My uncle Frank
stubble-faced and weak
after surgery for cancer
of the larynx
sneaking a smoke
in the bathroom.

Or Katie, the friend we envied
for her perfect body.
After what they called
exploratory surgery,
I stood in a room bleached with sun
and watched her sleep,
hands folded obediently
on her lap.

In memory, I stood like that
for days,
just studying those hands.
But in truth,
it was only moments
before her eyes snapped open
revealing the secret
of her fate,

Of mine.

13 Comments:

  • Perfect ending!! If we hang around long enough passion becomes wheezing. Excellent poem!!

    By Blogger Pat Paulk, at 5:04 PM  

  • Thanks, Pat. It's been so long since I've updated this blog, I'm surprised to see anyone's still reading!

    By Blogger Patry Francis, at 6:46 AM  

  • I wouldn't miss it, not for long, Patry!

    This is a good one.

    By Blogger MB, at 5:40 PM  

  • I meant I wouldn't miss a post here... I have missed you here these last few months!

    By Blogger MB, at 5:40 PM  

  • Great to see you back poeting and what a wonderful surprise-it's a strange thing how you can look at someone and think they have everything perhaps they have (probably just an illusion) but how fragile is that happiness if we achieve it.

    By Blogger Sue hardy-Dawson, at 1:28 PM  

  • so glad to see you here again
    beautifully concise piece
    understatement makes it very powerful
    thank you

    By Blogger floots, at 11:19 PM  

  • wonderful piece

    quite haunting
    the contrast of the two
    bodies

    your own
    the perfect dying

    By Blogger camera shy, at 10:05 PM  

  • Beautiful!

    By Blogger Fred Garber, at 8:35 AM  

  • Well, you never know where you're going to go if you start cruising in blogland as I am this morning.
    I can feel the truth of these writings like a thump in my chest. Powerful!

    By Blogger Mary Sheehan Winn, at 9:00 AM  

  • LIP (Living In Poetry) works on highlighting and celebrating day to day creativity. Poets who lives ordinary lives. Hope you will join us with Anna Piutti
    http://www.livinginpoetry.blogspot.com/

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:54 AM  

  • Gentle, yet haunting and tenacious imagery so perfect building to a cresendo, it's as if I'm back there again.(for similar, yet different circumstances; don't worry, please take care of yourself; is fine here.)So many meanings to your title. A poetic gem.

    P.S. I can't remember if I used to post comments on your site as "Green-Eyed Lady (gel)" or SilvermOON or SilvermOOn (Gel), because often I could only read and wasn't able to type a comment, plus my blog crashed, but it's the same artist/poet. Glad to be back reading you. Congrats on your book!!!!!!

    Artistically,
    gel { * * }

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:31 AM  


  • There was a very real perception that bi-racial was much worse for the white than it was for the person of color. The liberal culture screamed racism when there is a very reasonable explanation for this reality::::
    In this white punishment known as the United States the person of color has already adopted the disfavors/temptations intended for another race. But by associating/mating with a person of color the white is newly adopting the disfavors of another culture.
    And this is the reason why people of color are not welcome in the United States. The gods control everything:::The perception they want to create, the thoughts they want you to have.
    People of color can't recover from absorbing the temptations from two cultures. And why they become more and more like so many blacks in America:::Veterans at absorbing the temptations of two cultures.
    To further illustrate this is why California's educational system/funding was ranked #1 when California was white:::Education being the basis of the affluent economic system. Now even public higher education has become unaffordable.

    The gods placed us all into our own corners of the globe. As such for thousands of years we spent time and reproduced with out own kind.
    This is why mobilty/travel, biracial unions/offspring and partaking of other cultures is a sin::::
    Each has it's own elements of disfavor, and by experiencing other cultures you are being exposed to these disfavors, which if people may adopt will make their state even worse than prior.
    The United States has been considered a "melting pot" where rejects from around the world were sent when kicked out of their motherland.
    Remember, this concept of cultural diversity is an element of the liberal platform the gods used to promote societal decay, revealed on the map with the "beast" that is the SanFranciscoBayArea and the spread of social deterioration that spread to the rest of the country and eventually to the entire globe.

    Ronald Reagan spent the communist block into submission with defense buildup, and in the process increased the National debt from $1 trillion in 1980 to $6 trillion when he left office.
    W charged both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to the national debt, honest numbers to come.
    The gods used W to initiate the "Great Recession" with deliberate legislation/regulation changes, allowing the sub-prime fiasco and corporate irresponsibility/criminal behavior which led to the multi-trillion dollar stimulous package, pocketted by Republican friends and donors::::$5 trillion charged to the National credit card.
    This corruption is one element of evil in the party of good. War mongering is another.
    Damned if you do, Damned if you don't::::With the Democrats you subscribe to social decay via liberlism, which WILL lead to the Apocalypse. Republicans are being used by the gods to bankrupt the United States, ultimately motivating people to the point of "desperation prayer" once anarchy presides::::Punishment designed to correct your behavior.


    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:41 PM  

  • Patry, I have this bookmarked and just visited today.
    This poem resonates with me even more now.

    By Blogger Mary Sheehan Winn, at 3:00 PM  

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