Dazzle with Glitter

November 26, 2007 at 11:11 pm (Poetry) (, , , , )

Wreath

I wish I could dazzle you with glitter.

I stand here feeling glazed and a bit jaded.

It’s a shame it can’t be faked…

To produce a good piece when the time comes,

Every time.

Point a finger and tell me to dance;

I can’t stay on strings though I’ve tried that.

When I change into my red dress

And feel sultry in the dim light,

Just for this one night,

I can’t help but remember even honeysuckle wilts on the vine.

Like a child, right now, I just want to go home for the holidays,

Back through the fog of time to warm Southern charm,

Everyone visiting everyone with dish in hand,

Warm breezes blowing through open French doors

    while we drink spiced tea swirling with the smells of the holidays:

        cinnamon and spice and everything nice

To go with the soft drawl of good conversation

       with people I’ve known all my life.

I want to remember Christmases wrapped in

      warmth and everything familiar:

A handmade wreath on the door,

Cut glass bowls on the dining room table

       filled with camellia blooms.

“Come help cut flowers,”

Scissors in gloved hands,

Bundles of red, pink and white fresh from the yard.

I was too young to know then,

That family and friends ease into the distant past.

Even the memories are stale,

Taking on the hue of sepia-toned antiques,

Mounted in gold leaf frames

Collecting dust.

So it’s time for me to get a Brass Monkey from the bar

And find a table so I can listen to youth and vigor

Spilling over with uninhibited enthusiasm.

Someone whose time is now,

And whose pictures are not yet faded.

© 2007 C. Harter Amos

3 Comments

  1. Soulless said,

    Once in a while, I’d stop and do an introspective search: where’d my youthful sense of wonder go? Reading/writing poetry helps me reclaim that.

    Your words here remind me of that. (Birthdays and Christmas oftentimes pass me by in a blur nowadays. Hmm.)

  2. jo said,

    Another strong piece from you, Mimi. Your descriptions of the South are beautiful.

  3. gingatao! said,

    Beautifully written, full of sense of place and character. Your writing just keeps getting stronger and more evocative and real in some way. I still love the other poems, I remember a walk down a Southern Street that I loved, but these are different, more energetic and involved maybe, I’m not sure, but keep going. I am enjoying your writing immensely.

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