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A Door Shuts

 Sharing with The Sunday Muse #187. 


They come to us in cardboard; we stand them up together.

Paper skin and silver bones and hair of green and brown and gold
A dancer's reach

One key at the throat, one knife in the door, one claw on the sill
A glass princess spilled

We lay them all in cardboard; we lay them all together.

There is no packing or cleaning up stories before the last click
A door shuts

We've laid them all in cardboard; we've laid them all together. 

-----

It's been a week. Our neighbors built a patio that is currently illuminated like a convenience store and which helpfully allowed me to watch a rat running along the fence, yelling at me the entire time. Trust me, rodent...I'm not coming anywhere near you. My dad is home from the hospital (yea!!!) & doing well and I feel...well, really, like this should be a stupendously garrulous note. Instead...I'm just going to say that I'm in the mood for comfort food reading. For stories in which people don't do stupid things and win amazing prizes but in which they do good things and win unexpected (but probably lovely) prizes. In which animals are willing to chat for a bit rather than cursing you, your neighbors, and every homebuilder from here to Houston as they flee along the fence like an utter freaking drama queen. Stories that get made into movies so wonderful that Cary Elwes narrates them as the cast reminisces about the magical shoot that was. (We've been listening to As You Wish.) Leave any book suggestions in the comments and I hope to see you again next week, when Sir Rattitude takes over my already hijacked NaNo draft and we all go out for individual packs of chips and bottles of soda at the convenience store next door. 

-- Chrissa

Comments

  1. Cressida de NovaNovember 20, 2021 at 7:47 PM

    Neighbours from hell eh ! A talking rat as well....not good LOL

    ReplyDelete
  2. JimNovember 20, 2021 at 8:43 PM

    Hi Chrissa, I too am glad that your Dad is home now. And that the rat didn't want to come your way. Our next door neighbor had rats until he got a dog, they were in his outdoor stove cabinet. Our pool guy found a rat's nest in the heater cabinet.
    My sister got me started with reading Leslie Meier's series books about her amateur Lucy Stone solving murder mysteries . She writes one a year, is up to 28 now.
    I liked your rat war poem, seems you win the war. Cardboard? When we have dead animals we, me, put the animal in a double lined grocery plastic bags and keep them there until garbage day. Not as romantic as your crew but it works for us.
    Our other next door neighbor has turned all his grassy area into a miniature golf course. On his back fence he has very bright solar powered lights that shine into our bedroom windows except we keep the blinds closed.
    TMI, sorry. But I've fairly well covered your lovely post.
    ..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. C. SandlinNovember 21, 2021 at 8:32 AM

      LOL...the one and only time I discovered a dead rat in the yard I let James deal with it. Otherwise...it might have gotten an entire funeral service under the roses. I borrowed the first Lucy Stone book from the library & I'm looking forward to trying it. Thanks!

      Delete
  3. FireblossomNovember 21, 2021 at 5:43 AM

    I may be all wrong but this seems to me to be about packing away a collection of dolls. Poor things, they only wanted to be admired.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gillena CoxNovember 21, 2021 at 6:04 AM

    Good to hear your Dad is home.
    Stay away from the rodent. Stay safe

    Happy you dropped by my blog

    Much💛love

    ReplyDelete
  5. Carrie Van HornNovember 21, 2021 at 6:28 AM

    This poem speaks to me of loss and trying to salvage and contain what we can. You have an amazing talent my friend. I am so glad to hear your Dad is home now, but sorry your neighbors are so annoying. I have a book recommendation, it is The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare. It was recommended in a chat and I got it at the library. I will let you know what I think.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. C. SandlinNovember 21, 2021 at 8:35 AM

      Cool--let me know whether you liked it. My Libby app is...overfull. I need to trade out some of the ebooks for physical copies (which don't require me to remember to charge my phone) and that might be one of the ones I request.

      Delete
  6. indybevNovember 21, 2021 at 7:57 AM

    Enigmatic and mysterious somehow.

    ReplyDelete
  7. robkistnerNovember 21, 2021 at 9:07 AM

    Glad your dad is home Chrissa — yay! I can’t help you with anything perhaps as bright as you wish. In my last two poems I wrote down the rabbit hole into the ‘beat’ generation. I am currently watching “Wheel of Time”, a Prime Video adaptation of the multi-book Robert Jordan epic. Not cheery, but damned good.

    ReplyDelete
  8. hedgewitchNovember 21, 2021 at 10:29 AM

    Like Shay, I was first reminded of dolls, and then I thought you might mean stories, but whatever the subject is, the writing is superb and lovely, with an excellent cadence and lightness to it that charms the reader into being pleased with it, whatever it is saying.

    ReplyDelete
  9. qbitNovember 21, 2021 at 2:04 PM

    “They come to us in cardboard; we stand them up together.
    …
    One key at the throat, one knife in the door, one claw on the sill…”

    Just amazing. Such wonderfully provocative lines!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. HelenNovember 22, 2021 at 10:13 AM

    Amazing .... poetry, notes, Dad home.

    ReplyDelete

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