Poem sponsored by the lovely jjhunter

[untonuggan]

jjhunter  has graciously requested that I share this with everyone, so here is her poem from the recent crowdfunding. (I went slightly over on line count, because the poem needed it.)

Across the Atlantic

To form the perfect castle using memory and sand:
a brisk day by the English seaside,
too rocky and cold to swim;
yellow bucket, salty water, fickle cloud;
a just-met cousin to help build the walls,
a teasing boy cousin to knock them down;

at last, a Kodak moment when all gather proudly
before gran and mum and aunties
to show the fine moat and walls they have built:
defenses against unknown invaders,
useless against the impending tide
and ravages of memory, time;
until one day a bright picture brings back the tang
of salt tears as the sea took the castle home.

by untonuggan 
sponsored by jjhunter donation's been sent
a poem on memory
and/or ID please!

Comments

okay to use gendered 'her' instead of neutral 'hir', by and by

[jjhunter]

The entire poem is lovely, but the last two lines hit me something powerful where my feelings lie. Loss & 'ravages' turn into homecoming, as if every part that goes away is going home to somewhere: lost, but also found.

I am well satisfied, and glad others will have a chance to delight in this piece too.

Re: okay to use gendered 'her' instead of neutral 'hir', by and by

[untonuggan]

I'm glad you are well satisfied! I had a lot of fun writing it - it's another poem inspired by all the photos I've been sticking in albums recently. If my scanner were connected, I'd send you a copy of the photo.

I'm glad you got the sense of both loss and homecoming, because that's what I always feel when I go to the UK. There's this profound sense of homecoming and meeting all this family and enjoying the countryside; a whole part of myself that could have been if my parents had raised me on one side of the "pond" instead of the other. When I leave, there's a loss of this place and this sense of belonging, but also a homecoming as I go across the Atlantic to my other home in the States. I think a lot of people experience this duality, this splitting of themselves, because of the effects of globalization and migration. (Not just in this century, either.)

[alee_grrl]

This is gorgeous. The last two lines capture the feeling of nostalgia perfectly. That beautiful bittersweet knowing that no moment is ever the same and that it is gone almost as soon as it is built.

[untonuggan]

Thanks! That's what I was going for, it's nice to know it came through. <3