AS THINGS SHOULD BE IN A NATURAL ORDER
Word Count: 268
His hand is rough hewn hickory, dead-heavy and cold on my breast.
His body is rounded yet woven by muscles that flex at the quick switch of rage. The mass of him, now soft in sleep, covers my body like a jellyfish. He snores into my ear and there is nothing at all I can do but be grateful for the cool, beered breath on my skin.
He grumbles that I am a spider and he is my fly. Says my thighs are a jail for his heart. He laughs at his wit. I blush as his friends snicker and nod.
He tells time by the whine of his belly, his needs by the falling down of the sun. And me, me, he just tells and I do.
I listen because of his decades of age like prayer beads that weigh on my head. I am a child stubborn and stupid. He is a man and my god.
I used to talk and ask questions. I used to. I used to smile and laugh with my friends. My friends, girls also now married and living with gods. Or dead.
I have learned his choice of meat cuts, his love of new red potatoes, his preference for the small fava beans, his hatred for peas. For him I buy fresh cream for his coffee and water it down for myself.
Time is my enemy now. The days shuffle in line. In those long quiet moments I pray and sometimes I plot but this I know to be true: that time shall, in time, become my very dear friend.
beautifully raw imagery! I especially loved-
” The mass of him, now soft in sleep, covers my body like a jellyfish. He snores into my ear and there is nothing at all I can do but be grateful for the cool, beered breath on my skin.”
The jellyfish, especially, captures the idea of his power and your resignation marvellously.
Amrita–thank you! I love your work and am amazed at how you combine a down-to-earth reality with vivid images in your poetry.
beautiful and darkly attractive, very poetic. “jellyfish” is the animal just chosen by my daughter for a school presentation. i won’t read this to her though – she is only 10 yrs old. [my 100 days project]
Wow, nice efficiency weave, dude. I’m going to remix some of these lines.
Thank you, my friends. Marcus, no, I would hate to have your daughter wonder how a man can be likened to a jellyfish.
Steve, go at it!
Hi Susan, Really enjoyed reading your work (as I keep rereading…)
Hi Janette, and thank you. I’ve been writing a story a day since the first of the year and daily work does teach you to look around and notice the little things that can create stories and art. Love your stuff too!