Southern Gothica

We all grow old...

She is an inkspot in the world,

the spidery writing leaving

blots and smudges all over

the parchment of her youth.

 

Her quill is slowing as it is,

life has a knack of running

down even

the sharpest minds.

She could have been a mystic,

she could have been a fighter

for all that is good and whole,

she could have been...

 

Instead, she is content

with the life she carved out

for herself, with steady paid bills,

a nine-to-five job,

and an almost welcome-to-all home.

 

Her family comes and goes,

she has long since cut

the apron strings,

witness the bacterial infected

kitchen whose stove has seen

holidays with pitter patterings of tiny feet

and squeals, mixed conversations

over the finest sweet tea

the south has ever seen.

 

But that was rather long ago,

she is succumbing to her twilight hours,

in the best way she knows how.

 

She is an inkspot in this world...

Reviews

[C. Harter Amos]

This is one of my favorites of your writing though it bites at my heels. Your talent shines throughout the piece. I think it describes a time of life for a lot of women my age though I prefer to think of that type as "antiquated, domesticated hippies" rather than "Southern Gothica" only. lol. Well done as always, Amber. You have a great talent for slicing to the heart of reality and artfully penning it on a page.

[Doctor JKC]

Quite an improvement!
And you will be so much more than an ink spot
on a bio-psycho-social form
as I am,
Jack

[Emily B]

I'm getting there. Closer every day . . . it's quite an image you've provoked.

[cest la vie]

As a woman whose children are almost out the nest, I connect with this peice enormously.
I however want to be more than an inkspot..I want to be that flash in the heart, burn on the skin..I so hope my family and friends have tales they will tell on me that make them say "Yes, she lived life"..This is a truly a wonderful snapshot of our life in the aging process.

Very well done..truly..

[Fabian G. Franklin]

I love this, it's very moody and has a nice serrated edge to it. I always enjoy reading your work. (hugs)

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

Such finely tuned craftsmanship... such a personal touch seems to be mixed with a bit of fantasy and I think we are all like that... the first stanza is my favorite.

[Gandré]

ah! She keeps her inner lamp alight in all people's sorrow blinding blast. She is a prototype of so many? Many original great metaphors - I like that, no tautologies no other people's repetitions...she is smart. -I like how you wrote this. really - great work!

[Tommy]

I like this piece;it invokes in me a picture of my mother.

" Instead, she is content
with the life she carved out
for herself, with steady paid bills,
a nine-to-five job,
and an almost welcome-to-all home."

Great work!
RLG,
Tommy