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Harlequin Mind
by JD Clay
She read herself to sleep every night
For the last seventeen years
Waking each morning with stardust in her eyes
But today was different
Her tear-stained book lay open on the floor
With a broken spine
Her knight in shining armor was
Galvanized at best
A janitor
Whose mop and bucket got all the attention
Rubbing her eyes she ran to the window
There was no mirrored lake with graceful swans
No rainbow or a pot of gold
His big white steed a filthy mini-van
Desperately
She flipped to the final chapter of
The dog-eared romance novel
Breathing the words she read
A hundred times before
Hoping
But it was true
Her world took a left-hand turn
Into middle-class suburbia
To yesterdays dirty dishes
Worn-out slippers
And a crack across her make-up mirror
She packed his lunch every day
Silently
And he rode off in a two-day beard
Without a kiss
Leaving her to cope with laundry
Oprah
And a yeast infection
~ jadi ~ 02/21/2002 Author's Note: As you might sumise, this is not autobiographical.
Posted on 05/25/2003
Copyright © 2024 JD Clay
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Christina Bruno on 05/26/03 at 04:47 AM great job jadi my kind of poem, real to the core. great scene |
| Posted by Rommel Cruz on 05/26/03 at 05:14 AM that's why we should never think that movies/books always come true. |
| Posted by Mary Ellen Smith on 05/26/03 at 01:32 PM *applause* love this! One gets caught up in the hope with her. |
| Posted by Melina Raven Maness Diebold on 05/26/03 at 03:41 PM Realistically tragic JD! Love it! Well done! |
| Posted by Jeanne Marie Hoffman on 05/26/03 at 11:10 PM But it is biographical of many people, taking place today, tomorrow, the next, etc etc. Sad, but tragicly true. |
| Posted by Quentin S Clingerman on 05/27/03 at 02:04 AM Poignant, a dreary tale perhaps too often in real life. One spouse or the other, maybe both, looking for romance in the wrong place. Or expecting life to be like a romance novel. |
| Posted by Rhodora M Fitzgerald on 05/27/03 at 09:55 AM Great read JD! Loved the title too! |
| Posted by Chris Sorrenti on 05/27/03 at 05:02 PM Excellent poem Jadi. One of your best in my opinion, and a new favorite of mine. Communicates easily and clearly utilizing concrete images. Well done!! |
| Posted by Chris Sorrenti on 05/27/03 at 05:03 PM PS: Have suggested this as POTD. :o) |
| Posted by Ashok Sharda on 05/28/03 at 02:49 AM But its biographical. The dream and the reality, they hardly come together. |
| Posted by Mara Meade on 05/28/03 at 12:39 PM It's a bit un-nerving, the sudden waking up to realize things are not as you thought they were. You captured this well...as usual. |
| Posted by Anne Engelen on 05/28/03 at 12:42 PM no sugarcoated reality! great read! |
| Posted by Alex Smyth on 05/30/03 at 03:03 AM Egad! Whose to bless and whose to blame? Reminds me of some of $#%@ens pitiful ladies. More earthily portrayed of course! Great job, this one! (though it ends on a squirmy note...:) |
| Posted by Charles E Minshall on 05/30/03 at 03:23 AM A slice of life for some. Good poem Jadi...Charlie |
| Posted by Alex Smyth on 05/30/03 at 03:25 AM ROTFL! I think I have been censored!! The above comment made reference to d.i.c.k.e.n.s as in Charles. Methinks he would get a ribald laugh out of that!!! |
| Posted by Kate Demeree on 05/30/03 at 05:00 PM Talk about writing life, it is as if you get right into the mind and psychi of the romantic woman who lives one life and dreams another. Well Done! |
| Posted by Lori Johnson on 05/30/03 at 09:01 PM You know, the funny thing about yeast infections? Well, never mind I won't go there. LOL
Yet another wonderful work form jadi. I've run out of things to say, you never ceaes to amaze. How do you do it? I'm green with envy. :)
The POTD thing...you can only get there once every 60 days, so SLOW DOWN on the good stuff. LOL
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| Posted by David R Spellman on 06/03/03 at 10:38 PM Sadly true reflection of what some may allow their lives to become. Some very evocative imagery and poignant metaphor in this depiction of a "mundane" life or the perception thereof. Excellent! |
| Posted by Philip F De Pinto on 06/13/03 at 03:27 PM and yet, the yeast infecting will make the dough rise. Tis a fine crusted loaf you bake here Jadi. |
| Posted by Amanda Bullington on 09/12/04 at 11:50 PM i don't know how you do it, all your poems that i've read so far have so much meaning behind them, this one being no exception. it's ingenious. |
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