Slice of Life Day 12: A Love Song inspired by J. Alfred Prufrock

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We've been watching spoken word poems for our March Madness poetry bracket, so I am finding myself seeking out poetry to watch and to listen to. This writing is inspired by TS Eliot reading The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (no, I won't be sharing this one with my 8th graders). I love Eliot's poetry, and his voice and reading adds so much to the interpretation. This is my piece.

A lonely old woman at the last
sits quietly in the leathery chair that matches
her old skin and thinks,
The only person to whom my deeds matter
is me.
When all we have left is
mundane:
A broken pen
A faded bandanna
A suit grown overly large for shrunken limbs
A peach pit.
If I have dared to disturb the universe,
will they notice?
Of course not. People are all the same.
Except that there is one,
The one who has traversed the lonely streets 
at evening with me; the one
who has shared the coffee spoons,
the measures of my days;
the one who is the other half of my pair of ragged claws.
He sits quietly in a leathery chair. His silence mirrors my own.
And so this woman realizes she is neither
so old,
nor so lonely,
because no matter how many times
the fog slinks on its cat feet around our house
or licks its tongue into the corners,
no matter the infinite number of coffee spoons
or yellowed newspapers measuring the days of our lives,
no matter how the people come and go--
If the voices we listen to are ours,
We will never wake,
and never drown.

Comments

  1. RajikinsMarch 12, 2018 at 11:54 AM

    An ode to a life partner. So sweet yet sad too. Leaves the reader with a distinct impression of the fleeting nature of life.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMarch 12, 2018 at 12:30 PM

    What a powerful piece! So beautifully written. It's almost as if no matter what, you have one another, for good and for bad. My favorite line: "the yellowed newspapers measuring the days of our lives." It shows how time is not always measured through a clock, but through everyday objects. Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. mycetblogMarch 12, 2018 at 12:53 PM

    Very well written!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Deb DayMarch 12, 2018 at 5:52 PM

    I've read this three times today. I just keep coming back to it and finding new things to love. Now I can't pick just one. But it's that first description that kept me coming back, "A lonely old woman at the last/sits quietly in the leather chair that matches/her old skin..."

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mrs. Trivedi-ZiembaMarch 12, 2018 at 8:28 PM

    Cristy,

    So beautiful:) Thanks for sharing. I like the faith the lady has in her other half. How nice to be able to feel comfortable in old, wrinkly skin and know that we are loved and cherished.

    Best wishes.

    Purviben

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ariel CurryMarch 12, 2018 at 8:39 PM

    Truly beautiful! I've been trying to get back into poetry. This helps :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Karen SzymusiakMarch 13, 2018 at 3:40 PM

    So powerful!

    ReplyDelete

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