Memories from Walking to a Workshop

Yellow siding, not plain yellow or primary yellow, 
but a yellow the color of Stella d'Oro lilies
as they're about to open.



Domesticated roses, looking for all the world
as if they were meant to grow wild, 
being hosed down by a man with rheumy eyes and crepey hands,
the sound of water being forced from a nozzle 
competing as I try to tell him how much I enjoy his garden.


A hallway with sunshine pooling on wooden floors
grown mellow from the polishing of thousands of feet. 



Nine over nines and twelve over twelves, 
single panes of glass that barely block
the winds of winter, when the Atlantic 
calls the fishermen home.


A sunny courtyard that looks inviting
but the door locks behind you, 
so you find a gate and 
walk around to the front of the building
and go in again,
without admitting you ignored the sign
that said the patio was closed. 

Paintings hanging one by one, five in all, 
over a table, words and images married there. 

Famous quotations; words from sacred texts. 

A place that feels holy, so different from 
the sterile building across the street, 
the one that thrusts up 
like a clenched fist against the sky.


Comments

Anonymous said…
Sometimes we all feel like a "domesticated rose, looking for all the world
as if they were meant to grow wild".
A.Smith said…
Ah, but what about the other way around? The wild ones that are reduced to "hybrids" by the ignorance of hybridizers ignoring the beauty of the wild? I love the description of this memory and for a while I was transported there, wondering why "modern" architecture some time looks precisely like that: "a clenched fist to the sky". Perfect!
Annie Jeffries said…
I love that hallway, Meri. I recall seeing my son's school (his new teaching job) last year and how old the building was, how polished to a high glossy gleam it was and the rich smell of lemon and old. It felt very nostalgic as does THIS hallway.
rebecca said…
i love old empty rooms...
places ready for dreams.
Anonymous said…
couldnt we be a bit of both? domesticated and tame, but a little bit of the wild all at once?
Siding the color of Stella d'Oro Lilies (star of gold) about to open, domesticated roses looking "for all the world as if they were meant to grow wild".
Meri, so many beautiful words and images come to mind in this memory/journey you take us on. It is quite lovely and filled with amazingly sharp, resonant contrasts that keep the mind awake and wondering. I like it very much.
xoxo,
Noelle

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