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the places i go

i go there often
up the creaky staircase
up to the third floor
fingers tracing
braille
left behind

here and
theres
embedded 
on mahogany
handrails
a love song
unfinished

a brass talisman 
tickles
the throat of time

unlocking
lemon yellow
hellos
and 
see you laters

kitchen arias
curlicue up
from stock pots
charmed
by memories 
made 

and held by love
stuck  
fast in time
i was never any good
at saying goodbye


Rene ~ January 2011

Every once an a while I'll read something that just stitches it's way into my DNA...
Here is a link to the poem  "my mother's kitchen" written by Marian of "runaway sentence".
Her poetry served as inspiration for this piece. Thanks, Marian :)

Comments

  1. ah! The memories you can find in an attic! (at least, that's my take on this wonderful poem!)

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  2. i go there often
    to hold on or maybe
    to just simply be held by time

    :-) Wow, Rene. Your stuff really speaks to me.

    I wonder if I read it in the same spirit it was written? I just wonder, that's all.

    Pearl

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  3. Thanks Joanie and Pearl...this is my Grandparent's apartment and kitchen in Staten Island, NY circa 1970.

    I can't go back there physically anymore but in my head I am there at least twice a day :)

    Thanks for reading

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  4. rene, love it. let's have this poem stand next to my poem that you like, about my mother's kitchen. they go together. love. xoxo

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  5. I'll toast you with a Flintstones jelly jar glass.

    My grandmother's kitchen...

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  6. you unlock some memories with this one for sure...yeah i go there too...

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  7. Marian, IG and Brian..

    Thanks guys, and Marian your poem set this one in motion :)

    ~ Rene

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  8. lovely.


    we do know how to time travel, don't we?

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  9. really? oh that makes me super duper happy. xoxo!

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  10. Suh-weet.

    Odd the things that send a sweet twinge through us, yeah?

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  11. When I think of my Grandmother's kitchen, I see a coal stove for cooking, and Fritz the dog hiding behind it, staying toasty warm.

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  12. Great stuff Rene!
    I go there all the time.
    We go there more often as we get older, appreciating all the little things that helped shape the person we are today.
    Keep it close, hold on tight and share the stories!

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  13. I'm sitting here listening to the 80's station. I told my wife I loved 80's music. She said it was because it reminded me of a simpler time. I agreed. Then I opened your poem. Perfect thing to read at this moment. Thank you.

    Casey

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  14. I can see white curtains and brown pom-poms so clearly, yet now I am stuck trying to remember which kitchen, where, when?

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  15. VodkaMom,Fireblossom, Joanie, Gio, Casey and Arkie...thanks for stopping by and coming along for the ride
    ~Rene

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  16. Beautiful picture you portrays...we can rally visualise that creaky mahagony staircase..all of which you talks with a love which we can feel through your words....

    Here's my entries to the Potluck,

    http://poem-myworldofexcitement.blogspot.com/2011/01/poem43hesitation.html

    http://poem-myworldofexcitement.blogspot.com/2011/01/poem44live-in-present.html

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  17. Happy 2011, dear Rene.

    Glad to visit the places you go in your writing...

    fabulous sentiments.
    well put.

    A++

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  18. superb writing Rene -- you took me right up the stairs and into the kitchen where I made myself quite at home...thank you..bkm

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  19. Wow, Rene. This is a place I visit in my imagination so often - a place of nostalgia and memory. Thank you.

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  20. An intricate and lovingly built picture--especially liked the line about " forty years stuck fast in the throat of time..." I was thinking at first this was a close friend's house, and that says a lot about your grandparents and what they gave you. Really good work, Rene.

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  21. Handrails to history..
    "..black bumps on the handrail
    comings and goings
    embedded on mahogany.."

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  22. once in awhile i like to go to my favorite haunt like you.. great write! here’s mine for this new year potluck.. http://fiveloaf.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/life/

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  23. This is my favorite of the last four.

    I guess I just have to touch things in poetry. And hear and smell things. I'm such a mammal.

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  24. Thanks for the lovely participation, Happy Tuesday!

    Potluck Week 17 Treat/Awards 4 You, Enjoy!

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  25. Thanks everyone for reading!
    I really appreciate the feedback as well.
    Fred, me too :)

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  26. Rene,
    I really enjoyed reading this lovely life experience, New York style!

    Eileen

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  27. A gorgeous piece of poetry, I was climbing those stairs with you. I enjoyed this very much. :))

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