Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Granny Malloy

  1. #1
    Diary of a Troutbum Poppy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    228

    Granny Malloy

    She lived next door in an old
    clapboard house.
    Gosh I must have been eight
    to her eighty.

    Mostly she just sat in her chair by
    the north bay window.
    She would stare outside obvious
    of some memory.

    I would stop by the old place nearly
    every day or so.
    You know these old houses
    mostly the smells.

    She had a new story to tell each
    time I came in.
    About a one room school or when
    the James Boys dropped by.

    She would talk about growing up poor
    and meeting her love.
    Of raising her children, who both were
    fine men.

    I don’t know why I just thought about
    this dear lady. And
    I wish I had kept a journal for her wise
    sayings and such.

    But a young boy doesn’t think of
    those things very often.
    He only worries about the moment,
    puppies and stuff.
    Last edited by Poppy; 08-20-2007 at 11:11 PM.
    "Some go to church and think about fishing, others go fishing and think about God." -Tony Blake

  2. #2
    solid motherhubbard's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    3,574
    Blog Entries
    157
    I wish I had known that eight year old boy.

  3. #3
    Something's gotta give PrinceMyshkin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Montreal, QC
    Posts
    8,746
    Blog Entries
    1
    Quote Originally Posted by motherhubbard View Post
    I wish I had known that eight year old boy.
    You know that wonderful singing group, "The Staples Family"? It feels as if we have our own equivalent here, our own group of loving choristers, singing of your love for each other and providing us the deep pleasure of looking or listening in!

    And I kinda think you do know that 8-year old boy...

  4. #4
    Not politically correct Pendragon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Blue Ridge Mountains, SW VA
    Posts
    21,250
    Blog Entries
    133

    Exclamation

    I think somewhere inside of every man, that little eight-year-old boy lurks. At the time, people ignored him, never dreaming of what he might remember one day down the road. And yes, at the time, we were concerned about puppies (in my case, my cat), and stuff, but we took time to notice the neighbor who was the Elder of a mostly Black Baptist church, the one who farmed and worked as an orderly in a mental hospital, the one who stayed drunk and whose wife was a nurse, how nobody stayed long in the brick hose on the corner, the artist lady in the white mansion on the hill, the black man who was the best painter in town, and the stories they all told me...

    Great poem Poppy... got my memories to stirring

    Pen

    Some of us laugh
    Some of us cry
    Some of us smoke
    Some of us lie
    But it's all just the way
    that we cope with our lives...

  5. #5
    Something's gotta give PrinceMyshkin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Montreal, QC
    Posts
    8,746
    Blog Entries
    1
    Quote Originally Posted by Pendragon View Post
    I think somewhere inside of every man, that little eight-year-old boy lurks. At the time, people ignored him, never dreaming of what he might remember one day down the road. And yes, at the time, we were concerned about puppies (in my case, my cat), and stuff, but we took time to notice the neighbor who was the Elder of a mostly Black Baptist church, the one who farmed and worked as an orderly in a mental hospital, the one who stayed drunk and whose wife was a nurse, how nobody stayed long in the brick hose on the corner, the artist lady in the white mansion on the hill, the black man who was the best painter in town, and the stories they all told me...

    Great poem Poppy... got my memories to stirring

    Pen

    And every one of us, dear Pen, has such treasured or pained souls within us, a great community of the vanished - the vanished or the merely absent. No one who has been loved - and noticing is a kind of love - no one who has been loved is ever truly lost, never truly lost.

  6. #6
    feathers firefangled's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Florida near Tampa Bay
    Posts
    3,015
    The language in this is so perfect. It seems like you are just casually telling us this (maybe as you're throwing out line and pulling it back in). The ending especially gets me because it seems somehow very purposeful for its effect but at the same time never loses the same tone as the rest of the poem...puppies and stuff...so perfect. Thanks, Poppy.

  7. #7
    Diary of a Troutbum Poppy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    228
    Quote Originally Posted by firefangled View Post
    The language in this is so perfect. It seems like you are just casually telling us this (maybe as you're throwing out line and pulling it back in). The ending especially gets me because it seems somehow very purposeful for its effect but at the same time never loses the same tone as the rest of the poem...puppies and stuff...so perfect. Thanks, Poppy.
    Fire, I am so new to this. I am unsure about timing and the rhythm that is proper. I like telling stories and I suppose making them one on one is just how I feel. I really thank you for you comments and those of the others. I know I can learn from all of you.
    "Some go to church and think about fishing, others go fishing and think about God." -Tony Blake

  8. #8
    Flying against the wind CdnReader's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Halifax, Canada
    Posts
    2,095
    Poppy, your poetic voice is poignant and your poems speak of simple truths. I very much enjoy reading your work here. Keep it comin', ok??

    I think this little one might fit here....

    .

    No need for you to be a man...
    Your grown-up world will never stand
    The test of time, so set it aside
    And let the little boy out from inside.

    He'll teach you so much about
    Love and truth and kindness and lack of doubt.
    See the world clearly reflected in his eyes...
    Perhaps it's only the innocent that can be so wise.

    .
    cdn/16feb07
    .
    *

    "Courage is not the absence of fear but the judgment that something else is more important than fear." -- Ambrose Redmoon

    CR: Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert
    JF: Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. My review is here.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •