Clearance

Airtight.

No sound.

 

No Is that you?

above the TV

turned up too loud.

No feeble getting up

to proffer hand or kiss.

 

No shuffling

round the assembly-kit

of treasured things

that made a home.

 

No ghosts

of chirpy whistling days

with windows that breathed,

seasons strolling in for a chat,

grubby knees at open doors,

laughter scampering

up and down the stairs.

 

No fidgeting between naps,

no turning a blurred gaze

from the incomprehensible street

to cross-examine the other chair.

 

No sobbing into the night.

Interminable night,

fingering things,

like a dealer,

leaving a smell.

.

Reviews

[Eilis]

Gerald, this poem is stirring. Unsettling. It makes me think of the empty spaces left after someone’s death. Like a child entering the parent’s home for the first time after the funeral and having to face the silence of all that has passed but is no longer there to be experienced.

I really enjoy the way you balance feeling and mind in your poetry. You seem to have a great intuitive sense of how much of each is needed to offer an emotional impact, but also something that addresses the intellect.

This poem is a great example because the distance of the narrator allows the scene to be absorbed without too much direction of how it needs to be experienced. It comes in waves, the feeling.

An impacting piece. Kind of a time I’m approaching in my own life so it feels quite poignant in the reading.

[Gerald Parker]

I've posted this poem on three or four sites over the last 20 years and have never received such an in-depth appreciation before. I'm really grateful, Eilis. You certainly have a gift for bringing the best out of a poem and for getting at the heart of its meaning.

This poem evolved out of a longer poem called "Goldfish" which I wrote about an old lady who lived next door to us many years ago.

[Eilis]

I think your poems are deserving of an in-depth look. Sometimes writing sites aren’t a great litmus test, I’ve found, because of the more social nature of the thing. Am glad if I can offer anything that gets at the heart. And thanks for those kind words.