Soft Mechanics of Afternoons
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Mimosas in a
coffee jar catching sunlight
laundry sways behind
About the Creator
Ella Bogdanova
Drop by drop I mourn the sea.
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Compelling and original writing
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Original narrative & well developed characters
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Foot Bindings
I asked my grandmother how she knew she'd fallen in love. I am not sure I ever did love him, she said. This was before I met my husband. I was naive, a naked spring, a raw nerve of a thing. That cannot ever be me, I knew. Sadness swept in gently like a Moscow thaw. It is no simple thing, looking into a woman's vast soul and seeing its foot bindings. Now, in Italy divorced with my skin singed off, when I say I don't love him mean: I have succeeded at feeling nothing most days and it mostly works. Do you want the comfort of Nothing? Do you want Nothing, too? Be warned: you'll never be free, even when you are nothing. Here is what doesn't work: Accepting the stages of grief. Talking about it. Sitting with the feeling. Missing him—no, the person you were when you believed in death do us part. Writing poetry. That, too. When I say I don't love him I mean: I feel capsized in an endless, starved tide. What sometimes works: selective memory. You must forget ripe tomatoes and his beard and feeling perfectly sheltered in a big blue world. Forget coffee in bed, laughter watching TV, blowing out the candles on the birthday cake and the quiet all-encompassing knowledge that you are chosen. Remember only how love turned to a banal everyday survival act, a trapeze act unsure whether he will catch you, how the warmth stagnated and became sour, remember the foot bindings and remember the resentment boiling in your veins as you stick it out for the kids. Six-hour Netflix binges help, too. A man's fingers tracing your spine. Frozen pizza at 2 a.m. Random trips to the museum just to stand near things that last a while. The realization that crying won’t change anything. Seeing that life is just a dream, and refusing to participate in your own suffering. Bite your fist. Walk on eggshells around joy. When I say I don't love him, I mean he didn’t break my heart, he just stopped touching it and it forgot how to beat right.
By Ella Bogdanova2 months ago in Poets
Paul and John's 47-Words Short Story Unofficial Challenge
UPDATE - Republished to update the list of entries, with the 40 we've had so far. Completely smashed last unofficial challenge which recieved 31 entries. And there is still time. If you have yet to enter and fancy winning a bit of money or just challenging yourself or both or just making two old geezers job harder - please enter!
By Paul Stewarta day ago in Writers
Comments (7)
Beautiful, I can visualize it! Congratulations on your win!
Nice! Congratulations!
The perfect accompaniment to the ever-present chore. Nicely done and congrats!
Wooohooooo congratulations on your win! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
Congrats, Ella! :)
This vignette is so strong! I love this piece
Congrats 👏🎉