She
She seems big-boned –
although she has fine ankles
and shapely calves.
Two years ago
she was frankly plump,
soft and cushiony.
Now she has become
square, not round,
and her body is firm.
She lights up when she smiles:
the sweetest, warmest smile,
more than a hint of mischief.
She is gentle and earthy,
straight-talking,
sometimes bossy.
She’s alive to
all the nuances
of many different arts.
Clear-thinking,
she can get to the crux
of any matter.
She is serious, irreverent,
and full of joy.
She loves life.
She puts up
no barriers / she is
nobody’s fool.
She is
ordinary / she is
inspirational.
She looks as if
she is made
of sunlight.
From a journal entry written in 1987, as prose. I thought it would be fun to turn it into a poem – which turned out to need very few changes to the wording and punctuation.
I can’t remember who this was!
Shared with Poets and Storytellers United at Weekly Scribblings #86.
You can't remember ? Such a beautiful poem. Someone who is made of sunlight hardly ever enters my life.You know Rosemary... poetry can never be superceded by any other literary form in its ability to convey joy...you have just achieved this.
ReplyDeleteOh Rall, what a beautiful thing to tell me! Makes me very happy, thank you. Yes I know, amazing that I can't recall who was the subject of this, since I obviously appreciated her at the time. But it was 1987, a year of major change in my life, so perhaps she got lost in the fall-out.
DeleteIt is, indeed, a wonderful prose-to-poetry conversion. I'm kinda bummed out that you don't know who she is; I was hoping for an introduction!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ron. Yes, I'm disappointed about that myself.
DeleteWhoever she was ~ she obviously made an impression. Very few of we humankind come from sunlight. How delightful!
ReplyDeleteI'm delighted by your delight!
DeleteI wonder if your words are not playing music in the mysterious subject's ears. It seems that at one point you know her quite well, or at least had access to her for a while. I think the 9th stanza shows this clearly. I really like her balanced personality.
ReplyDeleteObviously I knew her for at least two years! So from 1985, which narrows it down. Probably a particular staff member / mentor at Landmark Education when I was doing courses there and also sometimes working as a volunteer Assistant. I think it must have been her – but as I said to Rall, almost immediately afterwards I went through a period of major, drastic changes in my life. Many of them were unexpected and unwelcome. They included moving away from Melbourne and its Landmark branch, and from pretty much my whole life and lifestyle up until that point. It makes sense to me that some details of things happening immediately beforehand should have faded.
DeleteSuch a lovely poem, and she sounds someone who would stand out in memory ....but apparently not! We will all always wonder who she was!!
ReplyDeleteI might have figured it out; see reply to Magaly.
DeleteShe brings her poetry shine and i feel the joy of this gift
ReplyDeleteHappy Wednesday
Much💖love
Thank you; that's nice that I could gift her to others as well.
DeleteShe sounds delightful, whoever she was. I really like this word portrait.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rommy; I'm glad you do.
DeleteI had to smile at the details
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to have raised a smile.
DeleteShe is serious, irreverent,
ReplyDeleteand full of joy.
She loves life.
Yet She is ordinary / she is inspirational.
My kind of girl, I am glad she developed.
Mrs. Jim has an old journal/diary of a now deceased long living lady. I had planned but time ran out on me, going to the two ball games and all.
BTW, today I had a "new" message that there was a paid parking permit along with my package. $18 down the drain unless it is useable an other day.
Loved the prompt.
..
Glad you enjoyed the prompt, Jim. I hope your parking permit can be transferred to another day. Late timing of message might be grounds.
Delete