The thing is, and this
is the thing,
you think you know
a person, then
you turn up one day
and she’s
on the phone.
Tucking
it under her chin
she gestures for you
to follow, opens the freezer,
takes your hand, places on
the palm a single lolly
heart. Closing
your fingers around it with hers,
she takes another for herself
and leaves you alone,
aniseed on your tongue --
cold, very cold.
There's a tin of catfood on
the kitchen bench, a half-made
pie, a list of things to buy,
a child's drink bottle (pink).
You can tell by the way
the conversation’s going
that when you’ve finished
the heart, she’ll still be
talking, and you’ll have
to go. A half wave,
extravagant eyebrows,
pointing at the wrist. It’s
easy enough to find the bag,
between the frozen
peas and a haunch of beef.
You say later you were
in two minds:
maybe it would be kind
to leave a note
like that guy
with the plums.
But you couldn't
find paper
or pen
Mary McCallum
Another old poem given a facelift - old as in sitting on the computer for a little under a decade. Happy with it now, and thrilled too that my poem 'Bidding' posted last week has been selected for an upcoming edition of Poems in the Waiting Room - a fantastic project that began, I think, in the UK, and has been taken up in NZ with gusto by Ruth Arnison. I have also been asked by another poetry visionary, Mark Pirie, to send some poems to him for an upcoming edition of Broadsheet. Must get onto that. All pretty bloody exciting.
Go and visit the Tuesday Poem hub and find a whole host of other wonderful poems in the sidebar there.
4 comments:
William Carlos Williams was the first poet I discovered on my own after leaving school. His straightforward poetry was such an eye-opener. I never set out to mimic his style but I did write this little poem to acknowledge him. It was the first poem I ever had published in the States in the unfortunately-named Bogg.
PREMEDITATION
(in memoriam W.C.W.)
There are plums
in the fridge:
tonight
will be
a night
for writing
poetry.
17 July 1989
I like your poem. It improves after a few reads.
Mary, may I say ... I found 'So sweet, so cold' pretty per-lurry good on even one reading. Such a great feeling, to take out that old poem and 'nail it.'
it's so visual, actually quite sensual, touching lightly on several senses. lovely. a keeper! (don't stuff it in the deep freezer...)
xo
susan
Love your poem, Mary, and congratulations on the Broadsheet and "Bidding" successes.
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