Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Couple, Not Odd


he: kind, a gentle man
and gentleman,
a ready smile for children,
as if they alone
could grasp the life behind
blood-shot eyes
of unshed tears.

she: determined,
ambitious but in a time
that wouldn’t do
for a woman so
she moved
in other ways
other circles.

he: rooted
to companions
in bars, watered
by rock-and-rye.

she: rooted
to a place, an idea
of place, the same place
for fourscore and six.

Gentleness matched
determination. So they
lived, simply, if
sometimes quarrelsome.

he: missed her
passionately
when he died.

she: mourned
him until she died,
passionately.

This poem is submitted for One Stop Poetry’s One Shot Wednesday. To see other submitted poems, please visit One Stop Poetry. The links will be live at 4 p.m. Central time today.

Photograph: Couple, by Bobby Mikul via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

22 comments:

katdish said...

Oh, wow! Just beautiful!

Doug Spurling said...

My oh my...thanks

signed...bkm said...

Oh Glynn ..how many truths here in this piece...lives lived together taking separate directions...very well done..bkm

Maureen said...

A short story in poetry. Together and apart... but then the reunion.

Unknown said...

I had to go back and read the end of this over and over. Chills stood up on my arms. This is quite a profound piece.

Linda said...

This is so tender Glynn. I find I'd like to know them better.

Unknown said...

Such a story you told with that poem...thanks!

SuziCate said...

very tender...I feel like I can put some faces to that elderly couple.

Brian Miller said...

this is a beautiful piece glynn...the contrasting last statements say much...i hope to die passioantely...

S. Etole said...

"'til death do us part ..."

hedgewitch said...

The couple dynamic well and truly explored in the details of each partner, their quirks, the distance and the closeness. (For some reason I'm thinking of swans and how they mate for life...)Seamless piece.

Steven Marty Grant said...

I love the back and forth; the easy and deliberate structure. There is enough to move the poem and no so much as to be overly leading. Very nice OSW

Lisa notes... said...

Oh how often I've seen that dynamic. You captured it well, Glynn. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

More life than death is good.

Anonymous said...

they were married in the late nineteen forties, in september.

Laura said...

Glynn,
I love how your poetry gives. I feel like I have received something so special when I read your words. Thank you.

Jerry said...

My wife and I always notice the "old couples"(of which we are becoming)when we go out to eat...we can tell the ones that sit together separately... The ones that say nothing and we turn and work on our conversation again.
This is a piece that gives like Laura said. A clarion call to take stacok of our marriages.

Jerry said...

Take stock I meant...dislexic fingers.

Claudia said...

opposites often attract - i like how you look at this relationship from different angles - nice one glynn

Bubba said...

So much of their life story told in so few lines. Well done, Glynn!

Anonymous said...

Creative and very moving. Much enjoyed!

Steve Isaak said...

Loving, solid work.