Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Illustrate the meaning of "It's No Use Crying over Spilt Milk" (without using the actual phrase or literal exampl (02/07/08)
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TITLE: Lament | Previous Challenge Entry
By Leigh MacKelvey
02/13/08 -
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ADD TO MY FAVORITES
clothed in black silk,
she takes tea with her tears,
unsweetened,
lemon on the side,
which she sourly squeezes,
and drips drop by drop
into her bone china cup
with the teeniest roses
and the zig-zag crack
that runs from the handle
down the side.
Her lips purse after each anxious swallow.
She moves into our home
twenty years back,
we barely notice her arrival
until she catches our attention
with her
why, why’s and oh my’s,
silk dress crinkles as she flings herself
into the parlor where she
languishes somberly,
chants ill-omens throughout
the day, counts mistakes
to lull her asleep at night.
We cannot pry her loose from the settee.
Those twenty years back
we hastily act on a chance,
repercussions abound as result.
Which of us invites her to come,
who can say?
But come she does,
her ponderous perfume fills
every dark peak of the house
and mists over the furniture
with an odor of forebode
we wish gone.
Repeatedly, we assure her it is over and done.
She covers her ears
with her black-opal-ringed hands
and makes a list of consequences
that will search us out,
low to our graves.
She beseeches us to let her stay;
just a tiny space
is all she needs.
We fold her up, stuff her
into a trunk and slide it
under the bed in the guest room.
Houdini-sly, she jimmies the lock,
escapes with a wicked grin
to the attic.
We promptly nail thick boards across the door.
Through a small slot in the door,
we serve her tea daily
and occasionally …
only occasionally,
though we know
it does us no good,
we let her out for a breath of fresh air.
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Your words have blessed me indeed!
We fold her up, stuff her
into a trunk and slide it
under the bed in the guest room.
Houdini-sly, she jimmies the lock,
escapes with a wicked grin
to the attic.
I love the ending.
God Bless.
with her black-opal-ringed hands
I think you could've omitted the "her", but that's just me, the rest of it read wonderfully and I really liked how you described her...and lol-actually let her out for air! That's brave...I would just give her the tea! ^_^
God Bless
This was a sobering thought "...chants ill-omens throughout
the day, counts mistakes
to lull her asleep at night."
A well deserved EC.
D. J.
Well done!
Janny