Tag / work

by Carol J Forrester

Mired In Translation – #WeekendWritingPrompt

In some cases, the letter won’t translate.

Specified language is always a little tricky,

not like asking

for directions to the swimming pool,

or how much for the loaf of bread

behind the counter.

 

You craft an art-form of assumptions.

Cut loose the odd words,

ones which clearly don’t fit

in the rigid confines of business,

ones surely not meant.

Leave a framework of mundane.

 

Puzzle a meaning from the scraps,

a rhythm for the found poem

butchered out of miscommunication.

 

Send a response in English,

cringe a little for the recipient,

know they will likely do as you

and turn to an app,

a browser tab,

punch in the words,

frown at the nonsense.

wk-111-translation

 

 

 

 

by Carol J Forrester

Afternoon Shallows

I found the pip between my teeth

an hour after the bitter bite

of garden currents

had faded from my tongue.

 

In the middle of a meeting,

too close between collegues

to spit or pick

the pith from my mouth.

 

Instead I chased it

from cheek to cheek

along the ring of my lower lip

to the hollow beside my molars.

 

The presenter lost his place,

tapped again at his laptop,

muttered a word ,

asked someone to call IT.

 

I swallowed by accident.

Choked,

drew a worried glance,

waved it away with a glass of water.

 

Outside the cleaner checked bins,

roll of bags at her hip,

quick, quiet between the desks,

she whisked any evidence away.

 

The Summer heat has been making it difficult to sit down and write. Nowhere feels comfortable and I’m constantly shifting position to try and ease that sticky, gross feeling that comes with trying to do anything at all during hot, summer days.

I’d really love to hear people’s thoughts on this poem as it just sort of took shape this evening and I can very rarely tell if that makes it a good poem or a really bad one. Either way I enjoyed writing it and I hope you enjoyed reading/listening to it.

Close up bunch of fresh raspberries

Close up bunch of fresh raspberries

by Carol J Forrester

To Do.

I am a Queen of ‘To Do’ lists. I write them out over and over again, adding little things here an there, things that have to be done, things I should have done, things that I thought about doing three years ago and never quite got around to. Most of those things are already written out on older ‘To Do’ lists, but I often find myself losing the list and in so doing, forgetting what was on the list and what I was supposed to be getting done. It is not a good system for productivity.

So this is my current ‘To Do’ list:

to do list

(I’m having quite a bit of fun with my new BAMBOO tablet.

 

Links:

 

Now let’s see if I can actually get some writing done.