Winter of Our Discontent

...of love lost

Winter of our Discontent

 

 

 Winter just wasn’t our season.

After sorting through a mass collection

of Zeppelin albums

and a flash drive of wedded bliss,

we said goodbye.

 

Goodbye

to twenty plus years

of family reunions and Christmas traditions,

to crisp November mornings

of breakfast in bed

with three cats at our feet

and a house with no mortgage.

 

What’s yours what’s mine­­­­

now lies dissected

in a dichotomy of cardboard boxes,

 

categorically defined

like the high thread count of sheets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author's Note

The closing line about the high thread count of sheets, I have used before...but I think it bears repeating here.

Reviews

[keith]

on spot!

(Please enter at least 25 characters)
at least 25 characters

[Kelly Scheppers]

Much appreciate your eight characters! ; )

[Einstein Noodle]

its a good line ma'am ;) you capture the moment well ...i can smell the dust on the boxes and the now gone shared life ... stacked neatly down the divide ;(( i have not suffered a divorce .. but i empathize and imagine ... what do you do with all those memories, pictures and feelings ... i struggled for years over the wedding pictures of my sister, let alone a spouse .... though she is far better off than staying with a cheater .. i like the concrete images used to effect emotional filling in ..well done as always
E.

[Kelly Scheppers]

How wonderful for your sister to have had you in her corner. It can be a battle royal. Many thanks for your insight, Gene!

[Einstein Noodle]

she a corker, my sister is ... she's my hero .. retired now and travels the world with her good man ;)

[Kelly Scheppers]

I miss my sister. Lost her many years ago to the complications of asthma. Her absence in my life is something I still deal with every day.

[Einstein Noodle]

i know honey :( i have read you tributes to her ... just know she loves you dearly and i am convinced our loved ones are happy and watching us ... protecting us ..a big hug from me today Legs

[Jibey]

I like the strength of this writing. It doesn't wallow in the emotion of the situation it describes but gets across the matter-of-fact-ness and the sadness of a breakup. The use of the detail of 'things' that represent times together, now lost, works well, as do the memories of warm moments now cold and clinical. The last line works well again... precious objects now just a number in as list.

I love the taut economy of your poems, the careful crafting that characterises your work.

[Kelly Scheppers]

I am most thankful to garnish a review that touches me in the depths this has. How lucky am I to have such a friend! Thank you, Jibey!

[Davidgeo]

Ouch, this poem did it's job. Very well written.

Separating is always sad. Even when it's for the best, it always hurts and that hurt tends to fade rather slowly and refresh itself unexpectadly... sometimes even years later some memories just keep coming back.

I wish the movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" was real. We'd all probably just fall back in love with the same people over and over again. Wether that's a good thing or not is debatable.

[Kelly Scheppers]

I've never seen the movie, but you have enlightened me to do so. Many thanks for that and for a review that made me smile!

[Davidgeo]

You should definitely check that movie out... I promise you won't regret it. It's got kind of a goofy premise but it's really well written/directed/acted so it all works out perfectly.

[Chris Shaw]

Having been there once, you would be a fool to find yourself in the same shoes a second time. Your third stanza hit home hard. Yes, that's the emptiness of broken wedded bliss for you. I remember those cardboard boxes of long ago. Great title Kelly.

Chrisl

[Kelly Scheppers]

So, now you're in a much better place. How wonderful! Thank you for sharing your perspective, Chris!

[Kelly Scheppers]

I forgot to mention the title. It actually comes from the first two lines of Shakespeare's Richard III, that I've always admired. Isn't it beautiful?

[Chris Shaw]

Much happier now Kelly. I love the carefully selected vocab you use in your writes. Much appreciated.

[Chris Shaw]

Oh yes Kelly. Shakespeare' s Richard III, known to me. Clever use of that title. Most appropriate.

[Kelly Scheppers]

I was hoping others would think so, too. Thanks again, Chris! ; )

[Carson Kramer]

Having read a couple of other writer's reviews, I find this even more remarkable, considering you've never experienced such feelings.
Stark imagery, palpable descriptions.
You had me at Zeppelin albums, and kissed me with, a house with no mortgage.
So well done.

[Kelly Scheppers]

A close friend of mine went through a divorce years ago, and I remember all too well its aftermath. As for the mention of Zeppelin albums, I like to put a little piece of myself in my work from time to time. Thank you, Carson. I really appreciate it.

[Neville]

It doesn't bare thinking about, and, it doesn't need to be because you have painted such a vivid picture of what it could, and most probably would be like for many who reach that point in their journey.. and where decisions need to be made before the removal van arrives........

[Kelly Scheppers]

I tried to imagine what it would be like, to have one's life and years of marriage, consist of the remains in cardboard boxes. Thank you, Neville!

[Neville]

your words, my pleasure..

[Dave]

Kelly -
I pray this is just an exercise, a beautiful one, in writing, not a thing you are or have experienced. I thank God for my good fortune in having found my "lifemate" my first year of college, 1958.

Take care - Dave

[Kelly Scheppers]

Yes, it was all in my head, Dave. How wonderful for you to have met someone so early in your life, knowing she was the right one. Best wishes to you both...and thank you!

[Dave]

Thank you - for letting me know that this was just in your head. I honestly feel badly for those that have experienced what you described. I know that I have been truly blessed.

Take care - Dave

[Crowley]

Damn...that is as real as it gets! It’s wierd how one minute everything and the next three boxes and the spice rack and a chance atctenewal....wow...

[Kelly Scheppers]

I had to make mention of the Zeppelin albums and the flash drive. I thought it helped to reel in the gamut of emotions. The spice rack would have been a nice touch, though...thanks, Crowley!

[m.s.early]

I know this all too well.
The sheets got thrown away, though the heart continues to pay for them.

And after years of commitment. It lays limp, like old clothes at the foot of the bed

[Kelly Scheppers]

The years of commitment must be the hardest to walk away from. Thank you, Matt!