look, if you remember
anything about this town,
remember stale yellow afternoons
before thunder rumbled in with night
remember crowded cafes
filled with the silence
of fingers tapping phone screens
remember birds
singing through the night
terrified of what morning will bring
remember how summer
steamed from wet sidewalks
and how you went home every night,
shutting yourself into a rented room
to feel alive
for the Camera Flash prompt over at Toads today. We were given a photo to respond to. The image reminded me of those afternoons when there is nothing to do but wait for night and see what unfolds.
Gosh I absolutely the atmospheric quality of this one, Izy!💜
ReplyDeleteAwe, thanks, Sanaa! Glad it resonated with you!
DeleteThe birds struck me. Recently I was out in the dark back yard with my dog, just before bed, and a bird cried loudly, startling me. Maybe he was terrified, too.
ReplyDeleteI know right? We had a bad sotrm a few years back that felled several trees, and all night long you could here the robins and day birds singing back to each other. It was so unnatural and so unnerving. I keep thinking of it as something we grow accustom to, but really should be alarmed at!
Deleteshutting yourself into a rented room
ReplyDeleteto feel alive
Those were the days - the singles who somehow had lots of free and frustrating time to kill!
Hank
I like that you picked up on the very subtle intimacy of those lines!
DeleteI really enjoyed this. I can feel that steam rising.
ReplyDeleteAwe, thanks MZ! Glad this one gels with you.
DeleteThe title makes me wonder if Pandora is squaring the circle or the box is a circle, Izy - a face powder compact, maybe. The way it starts as if it's in the middle of a conversation is very effective - and we get only one side of it. I especially love the lines:
ReplyDelete'remember stale yellow afternoons
before thunder rumbled in with night'
and
'remember how summer
steamed from wet sidewalks'.
The ending made me sad.
I love that you see two meanings in the title!
DeleteThanks for reading, Kim!
You Afterword is like a short summation of my life, friend!
ReplyDeleteYour title already had my thoughts spinning, and you present your list with such visual precision, I felt the whole scenario unfold around me.. A person had better prepare themselves for living alone, or being alone, because that is generally how the story ends.
Thanks for participating, Izy.
Should have known you'd understand the quiet boredom/terror that sets in after noon! Thanks for reading!
DeleteWhat a wonderful write!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Annell!
DeleteThe sound of those phone screens and the image of steam rising... something so special with summers when nothing really happens. If this would be a novel the tension would build into murder.
ReplyDeleteOh....sort of Tom Waits song "Small Change"!!! Excellent addition!
Deletesome great imagery here I could picture the scene easily
ReplyDeleteThanks, Robert!
DeleteWow!! This is sooo sharp. Brilliantly expressed
ReplyDeleteMuch🌼love
Nice, Izzy. For a minute you had me counting up the rented rooms I've lived in. Six before I was drafted into the Army I think, and two apartments, could be a couple more in that three years after dropping from college. One thing about living in a small town, you know most every person. You make your reputation, if it's messy you'll be stuck with that until you move.
ReplyDelete..
Rich in imagery and mood! Love how it drew me in!
ReplyDeleteThe birds got me too... A few years a go I was writing late at night and I would hear a mockingbird in the tree outside my window. It was haunting. Beautiful writing
ReplyDeleteMemories of the town, made me think I may have grown up there, too?
ReplyDelete