Finding Warmth

[Delta40]

In a suitcase buried
under an empty bed
tracts and charts
lay neatly rolled.

Since 1944
every duct
every bridge
every crossing
in the country
packed alphabetically.

She lugs the
dustcoated weight
into the living room
cough
sneeze
wheeze
The locks spring free
to release the only
beloved treasure
of her husband.

At the cold hearth
maps are
unfurled
uncurled
mashed into tight balls
like tinder.

Her frosty breath
extracts a wobbly match
as frail as the
shaky hand which holds it
and scratches
once,
twice
ignite

Suddenly his lifetime passion
is gloriously ablaze
and briefly her heart
feels joyous wonder
before it is turned to ash.

The window slams
against the frame
bang!
bang!
bang!
She ignores the sign
of another ghost tantrum,
while her freezing soul
stokes graph fragments.

The wind howls
like a hateful scowl
Traitor!
Deceiver!
Turncoat!
Her joints warm
to the cosy light
in her life for a short while

[hillwalker]

I enjoyed this, Delta. An unusual poem about that dreaded 'C' word - 'closure'.

This verse

Suddenly his lifetime passion
is gloriously ablaze
and briefly her heart
feels joyous wonder
before it is turned to ash.

suggests she still had a place in her heart for him despite what one assumes was a betrayal, which makes her actions so much more poignant.

H

[Delta40]

Thanks Hill. I didn't intend it to be a 'c' word poem and have a different take on it entirely. However, I do appreciate any interpretation given and your willingness to comment.

[robertenem]

The window slams
against the frame
bang!
bang!
bang!
She ignores the sign
of another ghost tantrum,
while her freezing soul
stokes graph fragments.

I loved this imagery

[Jerrybaldy]

this is buried beneath the bed. its a bit inpenitrable, yet time after time we read it doesnt have to be understood, but without understanding what the f uck do we have ? I would like to understand and I believe most poets want to be understood xx

[firefangled]

I love the tension you make between an ordered life and the abandonment of burning the symbols of it.

Excellent choice for an opening metaphor. Seems to be the whole story of her life with him condensed into one sentence.

In a suitcase buried
under an empty bed
tracts and charts
lay neatly rolled.

This is not to overlook the perfect title as well. I loved every bit of this, Delta. You paint well between the lines.

[Delta40]

Thanks to you all. I did not think too much to this piece and I was thinking of a frail cold widow forced to burn her deceased husbands collection in order to keep warm. However, the sense of betrayal by this action can be misleading and I can see how it might be read differently.

Any suggestions on editing?

[PrinceMyshkin]

Thanks to you all. I did not think too much to this piece and I was thinking of a frail cold widow forced to burn her deceased husbands collection in order to keep warm. However, the sense of betrayal by this action can be misleading and I can see how it might be read differently.

Any suggestions on editing?

I didn't see "betrayal" anywhere in this but, rather, a belated self-liberation which became more overt at "Suddenly his lifetime passion is gloriously ablaze.." noting the gloriousness followed shortly by the "joyous wonder" but "before it is turned to ash" presented me with a problem: "it" may refer either to the suitcase and its contents" or to her heart. ..

The reference to "another ghost tantrum" suggested to me that their life together wasn't always as well-managed or tidy as his collection of maps and charts, and when "The wind howls
like a hateful scowl
Traitor!
Deceiver!
Turncoat!" I understand that to be her imagining how her tyrannical late husband might regard her current actions.

But while
"Her joints warm
to the cosy light"

this release and relief will only last "for a short while"

[Haunted]

I had a similar thing with my mother's stuff under my childhood bed. Your poem allows me to relive that moment of letting go. Like you I felt a sense of betrayal on my part. Great poem to ponder on.

[Delta40]

I didn't see "betrayal" anywhere in this but, rather, a belated self-liberation which became more overt at "Suddenly his lifetime passion is gloriously ablaze.." noting the gloriousness followed shortly by the "joyous wonder" but "before it is turned to ash" presented me with a problem: "it" may refer either to the suitcase and its contents" or to her heart. ..

The reference to "another ghost tantrum" suggested to me that their life together wasn't always as well-managed or tidy as his collection of maps and charts, and when "The wind howls
like a hateful scowl
Traitor!
Deceiver!
Turncoat!" I understand that to be her imagining how her tyrannical late husband might regard her current actions.

But while
"Her joints warm
to the cosy light"

this release and relief will only last "for a short while"

You have profound insight Prince. My feelings exactly. The betrayal is not on her part but the ghostly husband, who absorbed himself with his hobby. I don't imagine she took pleasure in burning them since it was out of need.

Thanks for seeing this.