3.24.2015

Now It's Dark When You Leave Work (video!)






More videos here: runaway sentence on youtube

Once you notice the ghosts
in your rear-view mirror, you’re stuck
with them. They follow you home.
After that initial clench of fear
in your belly, you get used to them.
They become comforting, even.

It’s because you dropped that fortune
cookie fortune from your purse
on your way out, then picked it up:
   You are alert to the events
       and feelings around you.
The ghosts know that is true and smile.

They’re why you didn’t run over
that raccoon running back and forth
in front of your car. They keep
your children company. They are with you
at night, and they wake you in morning.
They notice, too. They notice blue.
Posted by Marian at 7:54 PM
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10 comments:

  1. JimMarch 25, 2015 at 12:34 AM

    And darkness earliness doesn't come gradually like it did in the olden days. Daylight Savings sets on with a jolt.
    Poor little critter. We, here, we're talking just last evening about the proverbial 'dee in the headlights.'
    I enjoyed listening to your reading. I am not an audio learner so I always take copious notes at lectures or sermons and the like. I would have liked following along the words from a printed copy. More meaning for me I believe. Thank you, Marian.
    ..

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    Replies
    1. MarianMarch 25, 2015 at 5:49 AM

      Hi Jim, that's a fine suggestion, thank you! I've added the poem below the video.
      I thought I should probably share these videos (there are a few more recorded at that spot) before all the snow melts. :)

      Delete
    2. JimMarch 25, 2015 at 11:14 PM

      Thank you, Marian. Better still for me. I don't think I had missed much though. Possibly the significance of 'blue'. I hope the print didn't ruin it for others? Thank you again.

      Delete
  2. LolamouseMarch 25, 2015 at 10:22 AM

    I loved hearing you read your poem! I wouldn't mind having a few of those ghosts around me! Wonderful.

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  3. hedgewitchMarch 25, 2015 at 2:53 PM

    Spirits within and without, and certainly these seem the comforting kind of ghosts, of all the evenings you got home safe to the ones you love, all the fortune cookies that made you laugh, all the blue summer sky. Thanks for the printed transcript, so I could remember your words for more than a second as they left your mouth. ;_)

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  4. Björn RudbergMarch 25, 2015 at 3:17 PM

    Love the thoughts about those comforting ghosts.. more like the protective spirits than the menacing kind... the fact that they notice blue is just wonderful.. Very nice to hear and see you read too..

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  5. Kerry O'ConnorMarch 28, 2015 at 12:01 PM

    I always love the opportunity to watch you performing your poems, and so apt for the Tuesday Platform. I absorbed all - your face, your words, the cold scene behind you. I am grateful to know you, dear Marian.

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  6. TimoteoMarch 31, 2015 at 2:04 PM

    This made me think back to the days when we communicated by postcard..now here you are, coming to life before me.Too cool. Kinda like rubbing the lamp!

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  7. MarianMarch 31, 2015 at 2:22 PM

    Thank you, friends, for your sweet comments. We made a few videos at this location several weekends ago, realizing that the snow really is going to be gone... soon, soon.
    This is a pedestrian bridge on the Smith College campus, with a great waterfall in the background that's not quite frozen over. It's very near the Smith botanic garden, site of the annual spring bulb show. We visited on that day... what a literal breath of spring! Oh, to be able to bring to mind the scent of hyacinth on a cold and snowy day.
    If you are interested, you can click through the link above to my YouTube channel. We have a better system now, better mics, so the newer videos are far better quality, yay! I feel inspired to make more videos now that we have that worked out. Watch this space :)

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