Jun14

abstract mess.

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 getting ready in the morning

i made a quick decision

to throw one light piece of laundry

down the stairs

rather than carry the extra three ounces

down seven stairs to my washing machine

tucked away in a little closet

such a brilliantly lazy choice

i instantly realized my mistake

when it caught on a piece of art

hanging along the stairway

ripping it off the wall

sending it reeling

into another wall

creating a divot

the art tile on the wood

cracking in two

the nail lost deep in the carpeting

went down the seven stairs

now easy

with three ounces less

than i would have had to carry

stepping over it all

walked into my kitchen

flipping on the light

 which answered me with a sudden ‘pop!’

a lightbulb had chosen that moment to blow out

i took in the spectacle of it all

sat down with a cup of coffee, a piece of chocolate, and a bit of music

another day had begun.

—

‘i think you have to let go of this idea that you can be precious about everything,

and let it be the abstract mess that it is.’

-ryan reynolds

69 responses »

  3. I just read this one to my husband, and he said, “yeah, we’ve had days like these.” Laughing with you. I think coffee and chocolate was the right move–either that or back to bed with a good book. 🙂

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  10. “the tortoise and the hare?” … “many hands make light work?” … and all that sort of crap … coffee, chocolate, and music, my sort of solution … “sit back and relax?”

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  14. When my Mother no longer wanted to go up and down the basement stairs, she threw everything down them: dirty laundry, boxes, et.al., until a housekeeper or one of her children came by and sorted out the mess. I cannot believe I did not think to warn you about this!

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    • I do remember I used to throw virtually everything down the laundry chute into the basement. at one point, I threw my ex’s tubes of things that he was working on a project with down the chute. I continued to throw laundry and various sundry items down throughout the day. much later, when I went downstairs, I noticed that his glue and hardener tubes of stuff had cracked and mixed and hardened all over our laundry. I thought it would just wash out. no, it did not.

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  15. That has always been a problem for my creative stuff. Not so much in the rest of life Words. I hadn’t heard that phrase before and had to look it up. WORDS.

    Speaking of the power of words, I was reading /Voraciously/, a recipe column in the Washington Post. She is a great cook and, as is the fashion, talks about life before the recipe shows up. And I love how she segues the subject into food when introducing the recipe. Love that style. She talks about everything. She is a weightlifter, she is not a size 8, she loves her wife Grace.  And she talked about /Pride. /This was a quote:

    Back to pride. “Queerness in a way saved my life,” the writer and     professor Ocean Vuong     <https://s2.washingtonpost.com/3dfbbc5/666aed79ce4c9334753595dd/596b255a9bbc0f403f8c0b70/13/53/666aed79ce4c9334753595dd>     said in 2020 in a conversation with writer Bryan Washington     <https://s2.washingtonpost.com/3dfbbc6/666aed79ce4c9334753595dd/596b255a9bbc0f403f8c0b70/14/53/666aed79ce4c9334753595dd>.     He continued, “Often we see queerness as a deprivation, but when I     look at my life, I saw that queerness demanded an alternative     innovation from me, I had to make alternative routes. It made me     curious, it made me ask [if] this is not enough for me because     there’s nothing here for me.”

    Then she went on to talk about queer pride and how it affected her life. I loved almost ever word of it. But she repeatedly used the word /queer/. It stopped me dead in my tracks. In my 77 years, I have heard that word used as a pejorative and was shocked at its use. The queer community took the word back and use it regularly as an adjective. I realized that I have no problem with queer people (using it over and over to help me make the change) just with learning and being comfortable using the word in a positive way. That it is just an adjective. I like to think that I am “modern” and am good at most things involving change. Nope! This is messy for me. And with my normal segue, Beth’s quote by Reynolds is perfect for me today. This word transition from negative to positive for me is really messy. I’ll get there.

    Yeah, I know, too much info. I spend a lot of my time quietly and, as a result, I think about things a lot. And I use and abuse you with those thoughts. Thank you, B

    Affectionately, Bobbie

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  18. One of THOSE days. Ack! I had one of those two days ago. I reacted the same way yu did. Just sat down, had some chocolate and watched the birds bathing in the birdbath until I could deal with things. Sorry you had one of those.

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  19. Oh, Beth! I am both mad and glad that this happened to you. It’s nice to get a reminder now and again that we all have days like that, but I’m sorry it happened to you. Good to know you keep coffee and chocolate on hand!

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  20. Chocolate always makes any situation better. If it’s any solace, your story reminded me of one involving my conservative-spending father. He and mom were traveling on the Canadian/USA border and needed gasoline. They were in Canada and Dad knew he could cross the border and buy it cheaper back in the states. He got mixed up and went into the wrong lane at the border crossing and ripped a giant hole in the top of the motor home. The irony was he was trying to save a few cents and ended up doing more than $1,000 damage.

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  23. what a bummer… but all i can think is the seven stairs!!! i lived twice in houses with more stairs than flat floors and i feel you, including the damages. just strike that day from memory, what‘s done, is done.

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  26. Sounds “peachy”. Since moving to my new house, i sat on my bed, it has wheels, and it slid on the laminate, i couldn’t stop myself, and fell backwards banging my head hard on the wall. I’ve also stood up from the floor, forgetting the shelf above, and nearly knocked myself out. But I’m aware now, and there is a rag under the wheels, and I’m no longer over compensating for the steepish stairs. Getting usedvto it. Felt like a clown at times.

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