Adirondack Chairs Version 2

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Adirondack Chairs

Adirondack Chairs ~  Deborah T. Johnson

 

Jigsaw puzzle of greenery, the trees

Nestle next to each in the

slicing sideways light of sunset.

The yard in the back is filled with it,

Filled with the late late summer side slant

of sun,

The plastic Adirondack chairs, left, as we left them,

Me, looking at you, maybe my feet

in your lap...

No….. it was the yard man that set them ajar.

The one time we sat there, your discomfort

Grated on my tranquil storybook

Vision, of us sitting

in the sun,

Drinking,

The Wine,

so we went inside.

 

Now I see them, those pretend plastic,

Pale blue, light blue to match

The house,

chairs of ease,

One chair looking at the other, while

the other stares off into

Space.

We meant to build a fire that

Summer, a fire pit

evening of

Romance.

But, I saw your dis-ease.

Was it the heat? The drone

of the bugs?

The chance of a gnat,

Landing in your

drink?

 

Or was it,…something

Different.

Something not found

in the sideways slant of

cooling air.

Was it, something

else, off

in that horizon,

Blocked,

by the pale blue the light

Blue house.

Something,

cutting your sight

Off

from the road.

 

It must have been, because, you said

Goodbye, several times

That summer.   A nod, a

kiss, and you were

Off,

in your mind,

because you never

left, but sat in your uncomfortable

Sadness of not

Belonging here, or

Where you thought;

Wistful plans set, a

Blaze not by

Midnight cords of wood

in a pile among the

Rocks.

 

Set ablaze by whimsy,

A promise,  not

Promise.

So, we sat that summer,

and watched the flowers in the

pots bloom,

and the rains carry one

away,

And the gnats gnatting

as gnats do,

Cannon balling into pinot,

taking  up

Residence, in that

Pale blue light blue

house

With plastic mountain

Chairs

On the lawn.

 

Those chairs,

Those, Adirondack chairs

Still sit, still sit askew, still

sit, in the slanting light,

Still sit, waiting,

as I do,

For a time

Things, will be right

with the

World.

We must get, to

the other side, of

That Summer.

Let the snow pile high,

on those Chairs,

Get to, the whimsy, and

the Promise.

Watch down the

road, for a time to

travel, and not sit,

in uncomfortable

Sadness,

Askew in plastic

Chairs.

 

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saiom's picture

feelings in this poem too

feelings in this poem too deep for me to interfere with

 

'slicing sideways light of sunset'  is a beautiful line.

 

 



 

 

S74RW4RD's picture

I applaud the strategic way

I applaud the strategic way each image deployed contributes to the increasing emotional impact.  I also like the conclusion, giving the Chairs the last word, and the last presence, in the poem.  This is real verbal skill.


Starward

djtj's picture

Thank you

This is a rewrite of one you critque earlier.  One observation you had was the quick lines at the end of the previous.  Im submitting this to an anthology and wanted to shorten it so the quick lines at the end got compressed a bit. I hope it didnt lose some of the "overheard conversation" you observed in the previous.  You always sense the essences of my poetry for which I am grateful.  

S74RW4RD's picture

Thank you.  This is the

Thank you.  This is the version to submit, for sure.  The overheard conversation is still definitely present, but, on this reading, the power of the imagery took center stage.  And those last three lines---in which the Chairs remain with the last word---is brilliantly effecient.  I would like to say---and I hope you will receive this in the same spirit that it is intended, despite the clumsiness of my expression---this seems like a haunted poem, ending with inanimate objects bearing witness to the poem's content.  In this way, to cite an example, Kubrick improved on King's novel when, in his film, The Shining, the film's images end with the inanimate photograph in the inanimate and empty hotel, which has become, again, silent and motionless.  This is far more effective than a neat tie-up in some form of, "They all lived happily ever after."  

  This poem, as a haunted poem, is one of the finest in that form that I have read in a long, long time.


Starward

djtj's picture

Never Clumsy

Never clumsy very spot on. Thank you

S74RW4RD's picture

Thank you.  It was a

Thank you.  It was a privilege to read this poem, and to experience its presentation of such poignant emotion in such an effective, and affective, way.


Starward

saiom's picture

  odyssey of sadness 

 

odyssey of sadness 



 

 

djtj's picture

Covid -19

saddness Thank you for the read.