....Have we met before?
I feel as though we have-
yet I know not the time or place...
Did we stand and discuss in songs as we do this afternoon?
Composing lyrics of chess games and bird baths and steaming toys...
When the shop door opened just moments ago,
and the bell rang it's friendly, welcoming "DinG",
I could have sworn it was because you winked your laughing blue eyes...
Perhaps I saw you walking once,
perhaps we walked down the same tree lined street,
and you tipped your hat,
and hooked your thumb behind your left suspender,
and said "well hello there",
just as you did when we first came in.
The other two customers
have loud, expensive shoes that bang on your wooden floors.
The parrott in the corner started screaming at them.
I could have sworn it was because snapped your ink-covered fingers.
Or maybe at the bookstore across the alley.
Maybe I watched you from behind a novel,
and you pulled out your glasses,
and turned each novels page with expert deliberation,
and causally stuffed your pipe with smells of sweet plumb tobacco,
just as you are doing now.
Yes.
Perhaps.
Maybe.
Then again. Be realistic.
Perhaps Maybe Not.
So here we are to say goobye,
and thank you for the pleasure
and for the conversation and for the iced tea,
and for the pleasure of conversation over iced tea...
But when the shop door closed behind me
and I saw the gift like gold shining at my feet in the afternoon light,
I knew it was because your warm wrinkled hand had just shook mine.
I brushed the hanging ivy aside from the store front window to say "Thank You",
but you were nowwhere in sight.
just a steaming toy truck on a worn, threadbare rug.
photograph by sir james.
6 comments:
I like these exercises. Will James tell the shop owner about the blog so he can read it? Will James ever have to take your words and go out and find a photo? Sometime we can talk about describing the motions of a character through scene. Look at last paragraph and play it out in real time. Let me know what you see.
dad,
(i would write i your blog,
but i don't know if you check it anymore)
question 1. the shop owner is actually in evanston. this photo was taken when james came to visit his chicago fan base :) but...no. i don't we'll tell him...i don't know why...do you think he SHOULD know?
question 2. yes, last week james posted a photo on his flickr page that was taken from something i sent him. (you can check it out on the link below) and just scroll down through the pics. you'll find it.
question/advise 3. (call me, can we discuss?)
love you!
photograph by sir james
the linkage.
p.s. by the by, i had alot of trouble with the last paragraph, so thankyou for finding my achelis (sp?) heel and making it public ;)
(kidding. i am kidding. not about the weakness,
but about being called out.)
ok bye. i'll talk to you tonight,
me
i think the shop owner should definitely know. this is special.
yes perhaps maybe... most powerful part of the piece for me. it describes perfectly how fleetingly precious most moments in life are, even if they are as insignificant as the moment in which you greet and casually chat to the store owner.
Lovely. I can't seem to get enough of the vivid tapestries you weave here all the time. Just entering a shop is turned into a magical experience. I love your affinity for details and the sensory experience that many people overlook or worse yet, don't care to see.
Thank you!
"and thank you for the pleasure
and for the conversation and for the iced tea,
and for the pleasure of conversation over iced tea..."
i think these three lines have to be the most creatively constructed lines i have ever read!
this was wonderful, Jessi!
(ps.--the letters for the word verification below is "trust" which i thought i should share and encourage you with, as usually these words are jibberish--just a bunch of letters that are nonsensical and hard to read--not these ones. they are clear as the text i am typing now . . . trust. coincidence? i think not.)
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