Saturday, July 9, 2011

Anything but funny

Fat Lady Fell

She sits there on the stairs
leading up
to an overhead bridge,

broken plastic bag
by her bare feet,
spilled coffee staining
the steps, worn
pink-green slippers
upturned --
one here
            one there

her greasy haired little boy
wordlessly takes a piece
of tissue from the pack
she holds out in her hand;

he wipes her arm with it,
firmly, but gently, as if
trying to coax her into
getting up, but without
hurrying, gently wipes
her arm with the piece
of tissue.

A man standing nearby
throws a glance back
at them and frowns
(sour coffee? It's a hot day,

what time is it
already?)

steps away, joins the crowd
watching, waiting for the bus
out of there.

She sits there staring
at nothing as a steady stream
of office shirts and skirts,
polished shoes and heels
avoided her, squeeze through
the space between her son
and her as they descend
and stand equal spaces apart

at the sheltered bus-stop,
all heads facing one way
watching out for the bus
(where is that damn bus?
                              Late

late

late).

She sits there as her son
comes back to her, takes
another piece of tissue
held out to him and wipes
her arm with it, the little one
just wipes her arm with it.


***
A Poetry Potluck Monday submission.

17 comments:

Reflections said...

Wow... a truly heartfelt write. So often the shirts and skirts... looking away, fearing what could be them.

Liz Rice-Sosne said...

Ravenblack ... from this poem, one knows that you are one of kindness, empathy and sympathy. You have painted a fine picture.

Anonymous said...

another Wow from me. This so completely vivd and visual. I could see it like I was there. Great writing!

dsnake1 said...

and no one comes to help? that reflects the sorry state of our society is heading. i hope not.

i like the way the last strophe ends the poem, bringing out the helplessness of the situation.

btw, are you taking part in the SMRT's movingwords poetry competition? submission deadline is 15/07/2011. only a couple days left. i hope to send in a couple of poems. link is here if you are interested. :)

Maxwell Mead Williams Robinson Barry said...

amazing imagery, the words you choose are remarkable and real.

have fun in the potluck.

Ravenblack said...

Reflections: perhaps. Interesting suggestion.

Old Raven: you are very kind to state so. Thanks for your comment.

a-sudden-fall: Thanks, I'm glad that you could see it.

Morning: Thanks!

dsnake: You should send in yours. I'm not sure I want mine out in public like that yet, even if I think I can get in.

I was thinking about the sorry state of our people. We are very apathetic. I myself have fallen down some stairs and have had a stranger just walk pass as if I wasnt there. It's quite horrific if you think about it, why the general people just don't care at all. Overload and over-occupied in our ever rushing world that demands the best from us, is it why we no longer see the others around us? I was in a bus passing a busstop when I saw this woman and her son, and I saw that man look back and took one step away. That disturbed me.

Anonymous said...

How embarrassing to fall even when no one is looking; how sad to fall and be purposefully unnoticed or I should say -- avoided! Vivid imagery well captured.

dsnake1 said...

i think i will send in a couple & see what happens. :)

about this current state of apathy. it's disturbing indeed. maybe it's the pressure-cooker lifestyle here that's creating it. :(

PhotoDiction said...

What a vivid picture you paint with your words in this one. I really like how you end it. A simple act, repeated, while everyone else tries to go about their own way. It's sad to say or think about, but if she were slim and blonde, and the boy without greasy hair... how many would stop and help then?

Anonymous said...

i like it!

Daydreamer said...

So typical of real life today.. we mostly all would do the same, turn our heads so we don't have to acknowldege it.
Heart-breakingly true. A great write.

Ravenblack said...

beccagivens: dehumanising I guess. Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment.

dsnake: I think you ought to get in. The judges should pick poems that are of the accessible type, because the fancy ones scare people off. It's hard enough to get the general public to read anything that looks like a poem.

Photodiction: you got a good point with that question. Thanks for coming by. :)

feeling lioness: thanks!

Daydreamertoo: it's the mentality that we just don't want to trouble ourselves, so we convince ourselves we can't help anyway. Someone else can better do it let them. So no one does anything. Thanks for your comments.

Brian Miller said...

georgeous write...love that you used the bus stop...one of my fav places to write about...and people watch...this was very well penned...

Shashidhar Sharma said...

Ahhh!!! So emotionally picturisation.. and imagery... I liked the subtlety and tenderness shown in creating this email...

Thanks for joining in Poetry Potluck WK 43, which I am hosting for the first time this week. hope you have enjoyed it... and I look forward to your participation next week...too

Shashi
ॐ नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya
http://shadowdancingwithmind.blogspot.com/2011/07/whispers-cuckoos-song-and-smell-of-love.html
At Twitter @VerseEveryDay

Ravenblack said...

Brian: Thank you. :)

Shashi: thanks for coming by. This potluck is awesome. :) No promises but I'll try to participate on the next one too.

Miss Kitten said...

This is so sad and touching. It's heartbreaking how people in this world can be so cold and unfeeling at times. Well done, I love it.

Ravenblack said...

Thank you, Miss Kitten. It does make me a bit sad and shocked to have seen this.