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Saturday, June 19, 2010

Father's Day 06/20/10

She rolls the nicotine lozenge around
in her mouth, staving off a cigarette.
She stares through half open shutters, tries
to visualize the ninety-eight degree
heat, too hot to walk the dogs
too hot to repot the phlox, the dirty
copper fountain has lost its splash, water sliding across the leaves in subdued murmurs.
The fish lies at the bottom of his bowl
bored by the stillness of her bedroom.
Trying to squeeze good words from her brain
she sips cold coffee from a stained mug
stares at the stack of journals on her desk,
her bra dangling from the arm of the chair
where she flung it last night, a basket of books
the photo of her father in Navy dress.
The drone of a lawn tractor fills her nose with
perfumed memories of his push mower
throwing blades of grass pasting themselves on
his trousers as he leans into his toil
a green cloud of sweetness stirring the air.

Revised January 6, 2011
© cj Schlottman

9 comments:

Susan Anderson said...

This resonates with me; I think I've been there.

I especially like the last seven lines.

=)

Rose said...

I LOVE POETRY AND YOU ARE ONE OF THE FEW BLOGGERS WHO WRITE POETRY. I'M TRYING TO WRITE . I WAS A WIDOW AFTER MARRIED FOR 18 YEARS AND HAVE REMARRIED,. I LIVE IN ROME GA AND VOL. WITH HOSPICE. I WAS A SOCIAL WORKER. WOW! ALOT IN COMMON I SEE YOU HAVE A NO. OF BLOGS WANT TO CHECK OUT THE OTHERS.

Green Monkey said...

I'm not typically drawn to poetry but I feel a strong connection to your voice here and its very compelling.

I've been sharing my writing since my son's death in 2002. It's so odd because sometimes I write and love it and other times, the magic is gone. My magic has been gone for a few weeks now. your poetry felt like a creative jump start to me :)

Cassiopeia Rises said...

Claudia. I like your poem very much. We all seem to have those brief moments in time that we remember. Like old photos of the past. Well done.


Melanie

The Muse said...

Not sure how you wandered upon my prose blog, Claudia, but I am so pleased you did...and that I had the great chance to come and visit you and embark on a great poetry read of my own!

When we write from the depths of our experiences...this is the single most intimate moment a writer can share.

I want to thank you for doing just that.

The Muse said...

if you click my avatar above it will take you to my Word Game blog :)

if you need to get back to the prose site in the future...

A Diva's Hammer Prose

Anonymous said...

Gosh, I feel as though I'm there. Well done!

And the bra dangling on the chair? Honestly, my favourite part of the day :-)

Anonymous said...

you made me feel that i am there watching the whole scenario.. lovely! here’s mine for this potluck.. http://fiveloaf.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/life/

Linda Bob Grifins Korbetis Hall said...

powerful...

A++

Potluck Week 17 Treat/Awards 4 You, Enjoy!