The Gaping Rooms Shriek

I’ve washed folded and put away
Rearranged a few shelves
Filled and emptied the dishwasher
Read the paper
Glanced at the crossword
And still the hollow house
shrieks - for you
the gaping rooms
refusing to let me be
in what was – until this morning – ours

Even outside
The dying light
Conjures you among carrots, roses, garlic
Denying any of it
Is there for me
Alone

An Cala – the haven – fat chance

Another death – another resurrection
Only then will our place
Become my place
letting me be here
alone

30 June 1997 leaving for the MV Snow Delta

Filed Under: Poetry

Tags: An Cala, carrots, dishwasher, dying light, gaping rooms, garlic, my place, our place, rearranged, resurrection, roses

I’ve washed folded and put away

On the Shelf

At St Mary’s College in Wellington, in addition to spending hours practising the piano, I entered a national poetry competition. “Nothing is,” I wrote, “what is cannot be and not be”. That’s nailed it, I thought, on the tram going to school. Unfortunately Sister M refused to enter my poem. Both I and the poem were a disgrace. We were shocked. She never displayed passion but, that day, she had an important message. She thought I had dumped God. I hadn’t then. I was blatantly and badly channeling Gerard Manley Hopkins. I continued to write, and you can read my poems (so far) in chronological order or you can browse the list of poems A-Z.

The Gaping Rooms Shriek