1878 - Moving Out

 

  Image: ChatGPT 

The Sunday Whirl presented these twelve words for us to use in a creative writing piece.  

ravenous lurked shame space found glass hollow flicker rattled slip red crash

Poets & Storytellers suggested Legacy

Moving Out

I

My mother chose to move out.

When I found her, strangely trussed,

The note said “Do not resuscitate”.

A second note, reflecting her shame,

Apologised for the mess.

But there was none.

Just a hollowness.  Gone.

II

I opened her wooden dresser.

Things rattled strangely in the void:

Glasses, crystal, treasured items

From a long and eventful life.

Now just things.  Mum’s things.

Slips, her red cardigan, coats,

Woolly hats—they all smelled of her.

III

Three stuffed fabric hearts beside the bed,

Spaced out evenly and labelled:

Dad. Me. Her.  And her watch.

Did ghosts lurk in the house?

No.  No ghosts.  Just memories.

Are memories ghosts?  Maybe.

Pieces of her life flicker and shine,

But they are Mum’s sparkle, not mine.

I pack them carefully.

Outside, the birds sing.

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