Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Parlor

Parlor

The room was kept dark,
funereal silence only broken
by the hum of the fish tank filter.

A few bookshelves, lined with
Encyclopedia Britannica
and the latest children’s
books, the kind one might find
in a hospital waiting room,
all pulled invitingly close
to each shelf lip.

In one corner
a piano, never played,
now that she’s gone,
and the water in the fish tank

constantly drips

like the tears that wrinkle
the unread pages of your book.

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Submitted to dVerse OpenLinkNight. A lot of good poetry happens over there tonight--type a few lines and send them in! 

39 comments:

  1. Oh nico... this is so sad.. such a room so empty I could feel the disaster already in the first line. So well written

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    1. Thanks Bjorn--empty, lonely rooms always have a story to tell.

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  2. Oh, Nico, this is so sad and felt... great images... love the ending.

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  3. Nico, so many strong images in this poem. I wonder just who the person was who died. Why there was a piano that was never played. Why the latest children's books. So many unanswered questions......but then again, that's life.

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    1. Thanks Mary--yeah, I left a lot for the reader to puzzle out.

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  4. def felt the sadness man...the aloneness even amidst all the stuff...but each is like a constant reminder as well of what once was....

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  5. this really tugs at the heart strings. so sad and beautiful. the end, oh so perfect, stole me away.

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  6. Doesn't say when, or who, or how..
    but it doesn't need to in order to get to the kernel of grief.

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    1. Thanks Aprille, that hard kernel of grief eliminates some details while highlighting others.

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  7. The last two lines were unexpected, and brought the poignancy and sadness stronger ~ Very skillful narration, Nico ~

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  8. Gripped me deep. Very expressive and honest capture of the moment. I like very much. Expecially because in that silence, you are forced to look around and notice such things.

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    1. Thanks Henry--strange how some details stand out.

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  9. wonderful narration!

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  10. Nico, such good sensory observation lends a lot of emotion to this. It made me want to know the back-story.

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    1. Thanks Victoria, maybe the back-story will come out in another poem some day.

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  11. as ever nico I am calmed and inspired by your stripped back approach. I always intend to write this way but to my detriment I get carried away with the bug or w/e it is that makes a 'style' do what it does when we step up and type. at least the difference is stunning as I read due to my complication which somehow makes it worth it.

    I watched the movie 'Amor' a couple of nights back and this holds the hand of what remains of the movie in my head as I process the heavy feelings of absence.

    thanks nico.

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    1. Thanks Arron--just goes to show there is more than one way to do poetry. May you always get carried away when you write!

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  12. Absence is so present. I feel remembered grief. Well written.

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  13. Your spare and unadorned style is perfectly suited to this poem, with its imagist overtones, the subtle clues - "funereal" "hospital waiting room" - clinging to the objects like wary adjectives... until that final verse, where finally the emotions seep unashamedly through.

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    1. Thanks Sam--yes, this was something of an imagist experiment.

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  14. The hardest thing, after someone passes, is dealing with the places they once joyfully inhabited. This tugged at my heartstrings and made me sad.

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    1. Thanks Talon--sadness permeates some places, maybe forever, or at least as long as memory.

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  15. A poignant poem...I felt the sadness at the end there...very well written. It's a pleasure to meet a new poet :)

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    1. Thanks Louise, the pleasure is all mine.

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  16. The presence of absence is a hard thing to describe - but you've done it really well here. The sparse style is especially appropriate.

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    1. Thanks Tony--absence does make its presence felt.

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  17. Nico, this is a beautifully written poem on loss.

    Pamela

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    1. Thanks Pamelita, I'm so happy you liked it!

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  18. Grief, palatable, poignantly transmitted in your piece. It is its simplicity deepens the tone.

    Something so well-written must be heartfelt. I'm sorry if it is so.

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    1. Thank you Jeff--heartfelt, yes, but at the moment it was only a vicarious grief. For such a short and quickly penned poem, a lot of different influences went into the making of this. Rooms I remember, details from different places, and the feelings I've shared with many people. That being said, my own tears have indeed wrinkled pages from time to time.

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  19. Drifting in the melancholy feel of the words, I can sense the silence..the ending was perfection.

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    1. Thanks Truedessa--I'm happy you enjoyed it.

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  20. Loss is so hard. This is sad.

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