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Beth Patterson

Host, Virtual Tea House

this may be a crime scene

This week's submission to One Single Impression prompt: fading memories 

'You're not dead until you're forgotten.' --Jewish proverb

Chalk outlines

old lovers

discarded friends

misunderstood enemies

splayed and distorted

on the dusty, musty floor of truth.

Not quite dead.

clip_image002

 

Thank you to Geraldine of My Poetic Path for this this week's prompt of fading memories. Please visit Geraldine's blog to read her poem.    One Single Impression is a community of poets writing and sharing haiku and other poetic forms. Each week  new prompts are offered up to our often lazy muses. Come play with us!

 

Published Sunday, January 18, 2009 4:40 PM by Beth Patterson

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Comments

 

qualcosa di bello said:

wow, beth!  they are very powerful words...memories faded to simple outlines, speaking of the reality that no matter how much we wish, we cannot ever escape the connectedness of this life.

January 18, 2009 5:11 PM
 

sue said:

oh Beth! I love the notion of the fading of memory as a "crime scene" -- or is it the past itself that was the crime scene and now it is mercifly fading away?  

January 18, 2009 5:15 PM
 

Amias said:

Now you have really outdone yourself on this one ---

"not quite dead"

... faded memories indeed.

I love CSI and this poem unzipped my mind.

January 18, 2009 5:18 PM
 

Anthony North said:

Powerful, and a very original idea. I loved it.

January 18, 2009 5:31 PM
 

Pam said:

I like the mix of the crime evidence with the death of everyday things.  Wonderful idea.

January 18, 2009 6:49 PM
 

Deborah Godin said:

Really like the way you combined all these elements - clever and full of depth!

January 18, 2009 6:57 PM
 

Maggie said:

This makes me wonder...who was drawing the chalk outline...of the...

past or the future?

Excellent piece!

January 18, 2009 6:57 PM
 

Beth Patterson said:

Thank you all for the fun comments!

Sue--that's reader's choice on the answer to that question!!

Maggie--that's a great question! Is it The Witness part of me?  The question made me smile!

Grazi--

January 18, 2009 10:26 PM
 

Haiku Tuna said:

As usual, a piece that makes me think and then think again. Love it!

January 19, 2009 12:02 AM
 

Sandy said:

I am going to remember that proverb.  Not quite dead- I like that.

January 19, 2009 7:05 AM
 

SandyCarlson said:

Man, that's good. I have been in situations like this. The grit and pain of not quite dead are powerful. Seeing the chalk come out in that condition, ovewhelming!

January 19, 2009 7:23 AM
 

KiteHorse 凧 馬 said:

yahrzeit

tumbled churchyard stones,

i place pebbles at random;

sparks of remembrance

January 19, 2009 1:14 PM
 

Tumblewords said:

Excellent - truth. Love it.

January 19, 2009 2:00 PM
 

gmarie said:

Cool...great photo!

January 19, 2009 2:38 PM
 

floreta said:

this reads like a whodunnit. i think without the image you could have a totally different take on it.

January 19, 2009 4:46 PM
 

zoya gautam said:

.relationships-a casualty ?-their demise in cicumstances other than 'normal' (could) lead to a suspicion of foul play..the allusions creating a sense of mystery in ur poem to the backdrop of a  ' dusty.. floor of truth'. is wonderful..many thanks..

January 19, 2009 4:47 PM
 

Christine said:

Hoo.. Oh yes.  And we all scramble with our own memories of such "discarded" ones or our mirrored perception of those memories; which are they?

January 19, 2009 5:17 PM
 

Dances with Loons said:

“ UBUNTU is very difficult to render into a Western language. It speaks of the very essence of being

January 19, 2009 6:00 PM
 

Beth Patterson said:

Well, here's my secret...nobody really physically died, except a couple, and I didn't do it, officer, really.  

But the the chalky outline is the memory that remains after the relationship has ceased to have the charge of love/dislike.  And that memory keeps those relationships alive internally, if we go with the Jewish wisdom of 'you're never really dead until you're forgotten'.

You all are so fun...I feel like mystery writer today!

January 19, 2009 6:03 PM
 

Jim said:

Beth, you are a mystery writer!  A good one who writes in poetry.  I don't splay a single memory of old lovers.  I do repeat for one, "Thank God for Greyhound She's Gone!"  That is an old C&W song.  I doubt it is played anymore.

Discarded friends I hardly remember.  There were many, I would love to see all my old Army buddies.  I only had one misunderstood enemy and because of the distance of a thousand miles I splay his dealings as good or better than I can remember.  

Wonderful, Beth, I haven't gotten further, it may remain a mystery.  

Thanks for your interpretation.

..

old lovers

discarded friends

misunderstood enemies

splayed and distorted

January 19, 2009 7:37 PM
 

gel said:

Hi Beth!

Terrific assortment - liked this descriptive phrase "on the dusty musty floor of truth"

January 19, 2009 9:11 PM
 

Jeeves said:

Loved the different thinking!!!!!Nice post.

January 20, 2009 12:15 AM
 

one more believer said:

chalk outline described so perfectly, setting the scene of death...permanent

January 20, 2009 6:08 PM
 

Geraldine said:

What a unique take on this prompt Beth! I really enjoyed reading this one. Hugs, G

January 28, 2009 11:30 AM
 

Beth Patterson said:

An addendum to this post:

from Birago Diop

Those who are dead are never gone:

They are there in the thickening shadow.

The dead are not under the earth;

they are in the tree that rustles,

they are in the wood that groans,

they are in the water that sleeps,

they are in the hut, they are in the crowd,

the dead are not dead.

Those who are dead are never gone,

they are in the breast of the woman,

they are in the child who is wailing

and in the firebrand that flames.

The dead are not under the earth;

they are in the fire that is dying,

they are in the grasses that weep,

they are in the whimpering rocks,

they are in the forest, they are in the house,

the dead are not dead.

February 1, 2009 5:03 PM
 

Beth Patterson said:

This post is part of a synchroblog that is more or less monthly.  This month's blogfest celebrates

March 10, 2009 1:25 PM

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About Beth Patterson

The Virtual Tea House website became 'word-ripe' when, over a cup of jasmine green, I realized that the web has an expanding part to play in the communal aspects of spiritual growth.

With a master's degree in religion, my career spans 20 years in end of life care and I currently work in the field of child abuse intervention and advocacy.

Here in beautiful Central Oregon, my spiritual homes of the high desert and the mountains are both in proximity. And for good measure, four hours away is Grandmother Ocean and the stunning Oregon Coast.

I'm making decent progress on the goal set by my mother early on: she taught us that the goal of humanity should be to become ever-more eccentric, i.e. more fully human.

Entering the 'forest-dweller' phase of life, I am honored to host the Virtual Tea House for all who wish to explore how our lives are enriched and made new a thousand times each day by the spirituality we embody. Exploring this engagement together is the purpose of the Virtual Tea House.

Welcome! Let's have a cup of virtual tea together and share what brings us joy, what we are being taught by life, how we are leaning into the Big Questions posed to us each day in sometimes 'distressing disguises'.

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