Contributor Series 8: Feast and Famine begins tonight. You got three guesses to figure out what it’s about!
Contributor Series 8: Feast and Famine
Emotional Scones
By Clarissa McFairy
There is no easy way to tell a man his brother has died
Tea or biscuits do not help at that time of the morning
on a sunny day that looks like forever
Who would suspect Death to be out and stalking
when all the air is sparkling and birds are singing
and your husband waves from the garden gate
So unaware of Death trudging across fields
of daisies, in crushing boots, with sombre socks
and frosty fingers that rummage in the letter box
of a heart before barging down the garden path
without ringing the doorbell or wiping its feet
How does one cushion loved ones from shock
when one is not an electrician of the heart
but only has words at one’s disposal
There is no tea of comfort for the bereaved
Have I done anything to help, I whisper softly,
Yes, he says, and what might that be, ask I;
You serve warm emotional scones, he replies
Clarissa McFairy’s most recent poem to appear at vox poetica was In Memory of Marike, published in January 2011.
Clarissa,
I held my breath while reading Emotional Scones. It rings true and right.
Sharon
Sublime Clarissa. You never fail to make anything and everything you write about take on a life that we can’t help but share. Bravo! I loved it.
Wow, really, Sharon, thanks for letting me know. I wrote it with my heart, which I now believe to be the most trustful pen. The head can play tricks, but the heart is always true 🙂
Clarissa, I read this is a second your beautiful description had me near tears.
I can feel the emotion in this- a true heart, and what a better way to tribute the person who has passed and is missed.
Very emotional. Well done.
From the heart.
Beautiful and moving. I love your poems, Clarissa.
Such beautiful words Clarissa. This poem portrays all the emotions that accompany such tragic news. I could just feel those ‘frosty fingers’…
Thanks so much for this feedback, from each and every one of you! And, Christine, I am glad you could feel those ‘frosty fingers’. That was the intention, to share that frostiness 🙂