Poem no. 23: Recovery Time
Sometimes the day casually raked its claws down her
And they did not understand
That she would withdraw
To silence and to peace
Waiting for the wounds to heal.
© Anne McMaster 2016
24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
Poem no. 23: Recovery Time
Sometimes the day casually raked its claws down her
And they did not understand
That she would withdraw
To silence and to peace
Waiting for the wounds to heal.
© Anne McMaster 2016
Nice personification: …the day casually raked its claws on her. Short but sweet. 🙂
Martina – thank you! Yes, I wanted to keep the whole concept of damage and repair as tight and short as possible. Sometimes it’s all that needs to be said. There are days when I feel that people and events are abrasive: that’s when I take myself home to the farm and just sit quietly. It’s the best antidote to stress that I know!
wonderful image and word use.
They? do not understand?
There is no antecedent, which I am sure is intentional, so I see “them” and their role in the brutal punishment of the day. For my enjoyment, I see well behaved but cruel people in wide straw hats sipping tea and wounding with civility until they wonder “why would she just leave like that” But for me the enjoyment is always how the work leads me on beyond…..
‘They’ become the observers, Paul: the ones who do not know what she is going through. Sometimes I find that people and events can abrade: that’s when I take myself home to the farm and sit in peace and silence. I wanted to distance myself from the immediate emotion of the piece and that’s why I choose to write it in the third person. It also helped to increase the distance between the reader and the protagonist – echoing the fact that those people who do not understand others’ dark times are very distant indeed.