So Sunlight Could Have an Altar



I am years from a child,
and months closer to winter.
In my place of roots I am still
a little girl running my hands across
wooden planks of an old garage,
playing hide and seek in its shadows,
and writing my name in dusty glass.

From the well of echoes near the rafters
the building replays my voice so it
can’t feel decay breaking it into absence.

On my dark nights of dismantling
my thoughts return to the broken structure
to reclaim my child’s bouquet of dandelions
I placed on a shelf so sunlight could have an altar.
  
In a perfect union of odd we listen
to the music only we can hear, journal
years and miles on starlight vellum,
and seek solace in connection.        

 ©Susie Clevenger 2019




The top photo is one my sister took a few weeks a go of my father's garage. The bottom one is what it looked like the last time I saw it when my father was still alive. It breaks my heart to see it so neglected.

Comments

Helen said…
Your poem is incredibly beautiful and stirs up all manner of memories.
Jim said…
This is nice Susie, it sort of gives me shivers as I fit in it so well. My favorite line is "we listen to the music only we can hear" is getting old. When I first read your line, "So Sunlight Could Have an Altar" I read it as "... could have an affair." Why should this happen?
..
Margaret said…
I am so moved by the whole poem, the photos. "to reclaim my child’s bouquet of dandelions
I placed on a shelf so sunlight could have an altar." that was particularly gorgeous. I also just love how you began the poem - I was right there with you and back at my own childhood as well... A very special poem - I really enjoyed it.
Kerry O'Connor said…
Reading your poem gave me goose pimples.. The place itself has become a part of your interior landscape, almost indivisible. This is exactly what I had in mind with this prompt. Thank you for sharing these memories, Susie.
Susie- this is a stunning portrayal of the innocence of children. Beautiful.
Sanaa Rizvi said…
My goodness this is powerful writing, Susie!❤️ I especially love; "my thoughts return to the broken structure to reclaim my child’s bouquet of dandelions."❤️
Rommy said…
There is something of the child still left in the subject, especially in the way she still reveres the simple, beautiful things in the world.
Marian said…
Dark nights of dismantling... yes, yes.
Susie, this is so precious, giving space to the light-girl before she had to grow up and carry heavy things. I love it.
Sherry Blue Sky said…
How I love those opening lines! And the bouquet of dandelions so sunlight could have an altar. Gorgeous writing, Susie. That garage would make a super writer's cabin. I always wanted one.