After the Insurrection

Margaret Simon is hosting Poetry Friday today at Reflections on the Teche. Thank you Margaret.

I received a postcard from Diane Mayr this week celebrating the year of the ox, which portrays a bold hard working creature. Thank you, Diane. 

A NEW YEAR--
HONEST DAY'S WORK NO LONGER
AN OXYMORON

By D.Mayer

I came across an article in the Syracuse Post Standard today about a family experiencing their garage floor caving in and I thought I’d use the article as a prompt. That seemed to resonate this week. 

JANUARY 2021
 

 Below the floor 
 of her one car attached garage
 existed an empty space,
 unknown until
 

 today while she ate breakfast,
 her red Ford hatchback
 dropped with a crash through the floor,
 in a heap of cement dust,
 destroying the car. 
 

 The garage man had seen this before.
 Over time, road salt had weakened
 the floor, he said, as they stared down
 at the dusty red roof.
 

 They made arrangements
 to excavate the debris
 as she wiped tears
 and raged at her house,
 unexpectedly hollow.
 

 © Janice Scully 1/2021

In spite of all the fault lines and hollow people revealed in Washington, I do have hope and think that the government will weather it. I am thrilled that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will soon be in charge. Welcome!

I hope everyone is safe.

13 thoughts on “After the Insurrection”

  1. Good heavens – I am reminded of sinkholes that keep appearing in the news. Can’t imagine my garage floor caving in! “Tears of rage” at the hollowness which should not be, and because of it, so much debris. And, I imagine, ruination of the vehicle…yet, driving (lol) away from metaphor, I find much courage in your words: “In spite of all the fault lines and hollow people revealed in Washington, I do have hope and think that the government will weather it.” I’m holding to that also. It’s gonna take “bold, hardworking creatures”… plus hearts willing to heal and be healed.

  2. Hi dear Janice. I too read of this garage sinkhole & felt right at home. Not that it’s happened to me, but the ground opening up is a common phenom in Central & North Florida, the geology/science of it explained once to me at a library lecture I attended. But your poem shares the heart. It’s beautiful.

    Thanks for your wishes for our country & U.S. Capitol! Here’s hoping all goes well.
    Hugs.
    Jan/Bookseedstudio

  3. Ending on that word “hollow” is especially resonant. Great poem from the news, Janice.

  4. Employing this news article as a prompt for your poem has delivered readers added insight Janice. They say ideas exist in things and your poem is testimony to this. So, I am able to read the poem, discover more regarding this unsettling events surrounding the collapse of the garage floor, the demise of the car and discover more about the effect of salt on concrete all in the space of four stanzas. You have harnessed your writing energies with much incisiveness.

  5. Oh my goodness, I can’t imagine, although sink holes do appear. I never thought it would be under a car in a garage. You’ve shown it exactly, Janice, and we can certainly carry your word “hollow” into other areas of the news. Whew! Here’s to hope in a few more days! I love that you carried the news into a wonderful poem.

  6. Hope is back indeed, Janice. I am totally amazed by the sinkhole phenomenon. At least no one was hurt. Great idea to take a news article and connect it to the country as it is now.

  7. What a strange and shocking event! I love how your poem tells the story of it…holds the emotion of that rage, that hollow. Goodness. road salt does enough damage to the vehicles…now the floors?

  8. Oh my goodness! I’m reminded of Emily D.’s “tell the truth but tell it slant.” Your poem says SO much without even mentioning the Events of the Week. BRAVO! Perfection.

  9. Your poem certainly resonates on more than one level. I am looking forward to more hopeful leadership soon.

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