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Domestic Ephemera
Sunday 17 November 2013
Monday 23 September 2013
Fourteen
I lay quietly, watching shadows play across the wall. Hidden in a small haven. I focus in on the dancing leaves, closing down my vision of the peripheral messes, piles and clutters.
Time plays backwards and forwards. Fast and slow, here and there my mind wanders. Exploring, remembering, chasing down what I know to be mine.
Transitioning.
We came here looking for I don't know what. And found fire, stars, iridescent blue peacock feathers. And the tales of what we were to become. What we are made of and where we will return. We are stardust*.
And we dance and play around each other, gravity holding us in orbit. I hear the half remembered sounds of laughter and frustration. I feel the pull so strong, so infinitely binding I won't ever fall away, won't ever spin out into space.
Deep in the darkness there is more and more of all that makes us and binds us. All that we will ever need.
* Every atom in your body is billions of years old. Hydrogen, the most common element in the universe and a major feature of your body, was produced in the big bang 13.7bn years ago. Heavier atoms such as carbon and oxygen were forged in stars between 7bn and 12bn years ago, and blasted across space when the stars exploded. Some of these explosions were so powerful that they also produced the elements heavier than iron, which stars can't construct. This means that the components of your body are truly ancient: you are stardust. - http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jan/27/20-human-body-facts-science
Tuesday 25 June 2013
Thirteen
We took an evening stroll down to the waters edge,
collecting a discarded vacuum pipe and brush along the way. I am soothed by the
young one’s unwavering joy in others rubbish. We happily pass the time. I watch
little boats out on the horizon. They are tiny speckles on the blue. The clouds
sweep slowly along above us. The sun shines low over the stones warming us in
the early evening glow. Small waves lap gently up to our feet.
Along the tide line the vacuum is utilised to remove and
examine the thick dark seaweed that has been trailed in a long thick border to
the sea. I watch him play and wonder how it came to be there. It stretches the
length of the beach in both directions, as far as we can see, like a scum line
on the bath.
It occurs to me that the sea is clearing out, pushing off
something unwanted. I picture it belching, burping and gurgling. Bringing up
bits from far bellow and retching them out onto the beach. I stand still, my
imaginings taking me beyond the shoreline, the stink of the seaweed becoming
the deep unknown.
Suddenly a little voice shouts in excitement. The
examinations have turned up something worthy. He pulls a bright green fleck
from amongst the dark tendrils.
‘Look Mummy! Sea Lettuce!’
The sea swells with a deep unconsciousness. The water pulls
us, to and fro, with each tide. It has the ability to both ease and unsettle
me.
Thursday 2 May 2013
Twelve
We arrive, late as usual, to find children and adults milling around, dressed in floral May crowns. Sunlight streams through the trees and the sky rises high above us all in a clear vibrant blue. The children scamper, immediately, excited to join the play with their friends. I drop the bags and breathe.
A little tug at my leg
“Mummy, can I have a crown?”
So we sit and weave. Long trails of ivy circling round and round, adding daffodils, forget-me-nots, blossom and dandelions. Satisfied, she disappears once more, happily bedecked.
And so we while away the morning. The children work, making and crafting, building and sharing. Tools are carried and plans made. Little backs arched and plump tummies pushed out whilst heads listen on one side then nod in agreement with each other. All of a sudden a decision is reached and in a flurry of activity they all scatter before returning to each other at the far end of the woods.
I watch them working on their shelter, adorning and reinforcing on all sides. Not even the lure of the fire and popcorn can bring them from this important task.
All around life strains forth. Amongst the wood smoke little voices bring glowing touches to the idyll.
My Lady Spring is dressed in green,
She wears a primrose crown,
And little baby buds and twigs
Are clinging to her gown;
The sun shines if she laughs at all,
But if she weeps the raindrops fall.
My Lady Spring, my Lady Spring
Friday 19 April 2013
Eleven
I lit the little light, last night
Laid in bed, through sleep, I heard
A muffled word
A muffled word
… “Mummy”…
She lay there and smiled
Small and wild my beautiful child
And quietly said
…”Out of bed”…
The dark, dark night lit only by our little light
Saturday 23 February 2013
Ten
Something unknown broke across sleep and woke the boy.
With practised calm we lift him from his room to ours. A
quick glance between us as we wonder
‘how long will this one be?’
We sit on the
bed, quietly, waiting for it to pass. Small arms flail and the young voice
fills the room with misery.
Turbulent emotions flood through him, intensity
flowing into us. Holding tight to the hope that arms and legs are not truly
aimed at us, we wait.
And watch
And wait
Occasionally hushing or cooing or saying his name, we wait
And watch
And wait
Monday 11 February 2013
Nine
We took a scooter each, thee and me, and headed out into the dark towards the beach. You wanted to find the first star of the evening. Down we go, weaving in and out and past each other. The dark warms and holds us in our own little bubble. Over the cobbles and across the lights we laugh, though this is serious fun.
Down on the stones we look out over the sea. All the stars are cocooned away in the cloudy sky.
'Never-mind' you say, 'lets scoot.'
Along the front we whirl and twirl, looping and figuring eights.
'Like this Mummy'
Then we stop and sit. You wipe the bench with your sleeve and explain the magic of the stars. I watch the city lights flashing and winking. Blurring past our stillness.
On the way home you ask me
'What do you wish for mummy?'
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