Stuart Buck

Brenda #2

by Stuart Buck

Tuesday 11th August 2015 3:26 pm

Brenda

Brenda lives on a to-do list

An annoyance

An albatross

Her son bought her a CD player

And a Dean Martin album

Something for you to reminisce over mum

That’s what he said

Remember the good times

Before your brain started rotting

Your bones started grinding

Your breath started catching

Air fresheners fight against the smell of piss and ready meals

The rooms made smaller by piles of yellowing newspapers

Piles of yellowing memories

The fish tank is camouflaged

Khaki and brown

The bones of long deceased guppies drift aimlessly on the surface

The cabinets slouch under the weight of nostalgia

The cat is dead

The visitors stopped coming when Brenda started shouting

Swearing

Cursing their names

If Brenda could operate the CD player

She could dance her cares away

With Dean

And Sammy

And Ol’ Blue Eyes.

◄ spaghetti junction

Ladder ►

Comments

Michelle

Tue 11th Aug 2015 22:29

Really enjoyed this one Stu. I agree with Laura for favourite line.

<Deleted User> (13947)

Tue 11th Aug 2015 17:36

I could imagine every detail you described and the more I read the worse my stomach felt. I could see the clutter and filth and there was a disgust building up inside me.

'The cabinets slouch under the weight of nostalgia' will be a line that sticks with me for weeks. Already it has taken me back to a place, a memory I thought was gone. I like poetry that does that. (not so much the remembering of shit I thought was gone) But poetry that has that power, I love that. Nicely done!

Laura Taylor

Tue 11th Aug 2015 16:06

I really like this. It's scarily close to recent events in my own life.

Killer line: Air fresheners fight against the smell of piss and ready meals

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