Helen Dunmore - All The Things You Are Not Yet
for tess
Tonight there's a crowd in my head:
all the things you are not yet.
You are words without paper, pages
sighing in summer forests, gardens
where builders stub out their rubble
and plastic oozes its sweat.
All the things you are, you are not yet.
Not yet the lonely window in midwinter
with the whine of tea on an empty stomach,
not yet the heating you can't afford and must wait for,
tamping a coin in on each hour.
Not the gorgeous shush of restaurant doors
and their interiors, always so much smaller.
Not the smell of the newsprint, the blur
on your fingertips — your fame. Not yet
the love you will have for Winter Pearmains
and Chanel No 5 — and then your being unable
to buy both washing-machine and computer
when your baby's due to be born,
and my voice saying, "I'll get you one"
and you frowning, frowning
at walls and surfaces which are not mine —
all this, not yet. Give me your hand,
that small one without a mark of work on it,
the one that's strange to the washing-up bowl
and doesn't know Fairy Liquid for whiskey.
Not yet the moment of your arrival in taxis
at daring destinations, or your being alone at stations
with the skirts of your fashionable clothes flapping
and no money for the telephone.
Not yet the moment when I can give you nothing
so well-folded it fits in an envelope —
a dull letter you won't reread.
Not yet the moment of your assimilation
in that river flowing westward: rivers of clothes,
of dreams, an accent unlike my own
saying to someone I don't know: darling...
I really like reading poetry that has a message, poems that seem simple on the surface but actually have many layers yet to be discovered. I don't write "prolifically", if thats even possible, just when i find the time. I kind of got into writing poems, because I've always found myself weak at writing rhymes. Oh & recently, I entered a nationwide poetry competition for young writers (sorry, i'm boasting haha) and I came out with a distinction... my poem as well as AP 'gothchyld' were selected to go into the poetry anthology.
*UPDATE* (DECEMBER 2006) Copies of the anthology where we're published are out now, I'm right at the end haha. I might scan my page and put it up.
AP FAMILY
AP Sister: gothchyld. http://allpoetry.com/user/gothchyld. For her nihilist nuances, dark society poems. Always a though provoking read.
And I'm open to offers, to build up my AP family =P
for tess
Tonight there's a crowd in my head:
all the things you are not yet.
You are words without paper, pages
sighing in summer forests, gardens
where builders stub out their rubble
and plastic oozes its sweat.
All the things you are, you are not yet.
Not yet the lonely window in midwinter
with the whine of tea on an empty stomach,
not yet the heating you can't afford and must wait for,
tamping a coin in on each hour.
Not the gorgeous shush of restaurant doors
and their interiors, always so much smaller.
Not the smell of the newsprint, the blur
on your fingertips — your fame. Not yet
the love you will have for Winter Pearmains
and Chanel No 5 — and then your being unable
to buy both washing-machine and computer
when your baby's due to be born,
and my voice saying, "I'll get you one"
and you frowning, frowning
at walls and surfaces which are not mine —
all this, not yet. Give me your hand,
that small one without a mark of work on it,
the one that's strange to the washing-up bowl
and doesn't know Fairy Liquid for whiskey.
Not yet the moment of your arrival in taxis
at daring destinations, or your being alone at stations
with the skirts of your fashionable clothes flapping
and no money for the telephone.
Not yet the moment when I can give you nothing
so well-folded it fits in an envelope —
a dull letter you won't reread.
Not yet the moment of your assimilation
in that river flowing westward: rivers of clothes,
of dreams, an accent unlike my own
saying to someone I don't know: darling...
I really like reading poetry that has a message, poems that seem simple on the surface but actually have many layers yet to be discovered. I don't write "prolifically", if thats even possible, just when i find the time. I kind of got into writing poems, because I've always found myself weak at writing rhymes. Oh & recently, I entered a nationwide poetry competition for young writers (sorry, i'm boasting haha) and I came out with a distinction... my poem as well as AP 'gothchyld' were selected to go into the poetry anthology.
*UPDATE* (DECEMBER 2006) Copies of the anthology where we're published are out now, I'm right at the end haha. I might scan my page and put it up.
AP FAMILY
AP Sister: gothchyld. http://allpoetry.com/user/gothchyld. For her nihilist nuances, dark society poems. Always a though provoking read.
And I'm open to offers, to build up my AP family =P
- Last seen right now. Member since October 1, 2005.
- I'm a carnelian hope poet for 124 comments.
- My mood is , and quote is "live to write, write to live".
- I am a 19 year old girl (Hong Kong)
- When I'm not writing, I'm searching for the meaning of life. Oh and I'm a student..
- I have 124 comments, 2 contests, 1 addline, 48 poems, 6 stories
My Poetry
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The tenor gleans upon a warbling note
Shivering from his lips like tuna floating upstream:26 lines, July 31. In Personal
My Stories
1 - 3 of 6
Show all at storywrite
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We are produced in a factory line. You look at us and though we all appear different - we seem the same to you.1
225 lines, July 2. In <600 words, Ethnicity, First person, Personal, Race, Short story, Society, Spiritual -
It was an uncharacteristically warm July evening. He sat in the only armchair in his living room, in the dark, his singlet drenched in swea
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The tinkering of wheels groaning and the mellow hush of voices. A glimpse of a flame climbing up a twig, setting alight a small bundle, the4672 lines, 1 comment, January 17. In 2000-5000 words
Guest Book
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gothchyld on February 10, 2007Do I give such a destructive impression? I was really thinking of putting them into cannonball-like vases. or it must be my friend who hated Impressionistic art so much, his constant repetition of killing them has gone to my nerves.
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gothchyld on January 16, 2007Thanks for your comments. but if u look carefully at my last lines, I still can't get that society critique out of me completely. Argh..the media and disasters have scarred my poetry exploration! Good luck with exams!
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gothchyld on January 7, 2007We just update our profiles, and before that negotiate what member we'd like to be in the family.Hmm...the sister slot is exclusively reserved for you in my AP family!
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gothchyld on November 4, 2006I have just been liberated from my essay massacre. Was bit surprised that I got a nice grade for art history (touchwood on that). Anyways, good luck with UCAS, it seems like an annoying program. And I am back in HK on 22nd Dec
