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About Saving a Nick in Time
by Kristina Woodhill
For days now
their grandfather clock
in the living room has been ticking along
15 minutes ahead of the school clock
hanging on the dining room wall
rooms adjoined by
open walk-through
hard wood floor
to soft green carpet
a passage
fifteen minutes of separation
daughter stood staring
at this potent disparity
these two
contrasting ticks and tocks
and, in a stroke
of time-space genius
made a bargain
with The One who bends the Rules
daughter giving up
two weeks of her life
to go back
rewind
straighten up the mess
made by feline and old female
finding herself subsequently in the “then”
at the top of the stairs
quickly
descending
observing the cat
just finishing its breakfast
cat sitting on the living room carpet
licking its chops
beginning to do
its pre-puke squirm and meowering
while daughter waves
to ancient mother slowly
assembling her own breakfast
a few feet away in the kitchen
cat is scooped up
set outside the front door
where it can puke its guts out
unobserved by revered mother
carefully placing herself
her hot coffee cup,
her plate carrying bear claw and one third of banana
at the dining room table
thereby suspending
previous events
of beloved mother
rearing up
upon hearing cat puking indoors,
mother not catching clumsy feet
on table leg
not doing her downward dance
with the twisting walker
not breaking her fall
or her collar bone
not tearing arm flesh
nor kissing head on cabinet corner,
gash to be stapled shut
not
not
not
smearing the floor
with
bright
wet
red
instead
daughter exhales
from the living room
blows her sleepy mother
in the dining room a kiss
ascends the stairs
while winking at their grandfather clock
on the landing
finishes
brushing her teeth
09/07/2017 Posted on 09/07/2017
Copyright © 2025 Kristina Woodhill
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Chris Sorrenti on 09/09/17 at 09:51 PM Certainly adds rich new meaning to 'in the nick of time.' Puking cats, I am no stranger to, though don't always have the fortune to put them outside, especially in the middle of a Canadian winter. Evocative read Kristina. Lends to easy visualisation of all that goes on here. Kudos! |
| Posted by Laura Doom on 09/17/17 at 01:18 PM A poem of many subtle pleasures to complement the implicitly explicit i.e.
bright
wet
red
and the blatantly sick.
An oblique reference to the mundane Kevin Bacon phenomenon with temporal overtones
a passage
fifteen minutes of separation
a dual-choice reader perspective
time-space genius/
The One who bends the Rules
and a vesatile action device
daughter exhales
from the living room
amongst other harmonic disparities.
Yes, a potent 'sliding doors' scenario, balancing genuine respect with playful irreverence. |
| Posted by Glenn Currier on 12/20/17 at 12:01 AM Ah! To be able to go back and capture 15 and manipulate it for another future... or reorder a nick here or there! Great images, especially of that favorite of species. Thanks Kristina. This was fun. |
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