Day 28 & L-A: At home

• Manja Maksimovič

Today’s poem is about my first own room when growing up, whereas the photos are from my present home. There are many from different years and seasons. I refuse to see my home as a cage.

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Prompt 28: “Describe a bedroom from your past in a series of descriptive paragraphs or a poem. It could be your childhood room, your grandmother’s room, a college dormitory or another significant space from your life.”

Green room

Green tapison
that her grandmother
cleans with suds
on her knees;
a big green picture
of a locomotive;
green furniture,
and white,
oh how it suffers –
when the closet door
unhinges,
it becomes the perfect slide
from the bed
until that breaks too;
“Green Door”
on a cassette
that father didn’t bring from abroad,
he brings Cat
instead of Shaky,
only getting the “Stevens” part right,
something she will cheer for
later in life;
the books arranged by
always something new;
the broken pieces
of a glass serving platter
hidden behind a cabinet
in the hopes they will just forget about it;
and in the middle of it
little Manja
growing up into a secret,
cleaning her room the only way she can,
by making it interesting,
turning it into a game:
first all the mess is gathered
in the middle of the room,
then it is divided into little heaps
according to drawers and shelves
where it is due to end up,
and finally it is put there.
In alphabetical order.

In the photos we move to my current home in Tuscany where we have been constantly for the last two months, since Amy has named At home the theme of this week’s Lens-Artists photo challenge.

The photos are from different years and seasons, including the time two years ago when my parents were here last. Welcome!

  • My favourite position and my heart on the windowsill at all times.
  • For Christmas it is joined by lights.
  • Bestia’s favourite position at the end of the garden.
  • Rain this March.
  • A light storm in a past January.
  • Swiss chard, my favourite veggie, and the only snow in seven years, in 2018.
  • Indoor fire when we still had a fireplace. It has been replaced by a pellet furnace.
  • A rainbow after a heavy storm last November.
  • The table set up for my parents and their friends.
  • Father brought some plants for mother’s ikebana.
  • Mom in the flowers. Photo: Dad.
  • Amore’s art installation. Nah, he just put these strips out to dry.
  • Amore’s melanzane alla parmigiana. Before moving to Italy I would never consider eating this and now I love it.
  • Amore’s carbonara.
  • Then the curves are no surprise.
  • This photo reminded me of my cleaning process as described in the poem. Amore as technician at work changing the tap.
  • The view from the stairs. The paintings are by Duša.
  • The last light in June is glorious. Nothing more needs to be added.
  • The view from the bedroom above.
  • Sunset gazer.
  • How we talk now, on Skype. This is the last page of the special book that I got for my birthday from my parents in 2018.
  • It included all my poems for my first NaPoWriMo. And last year I also took part and got my poems in a book again!
  • This is the trick and the plan and after that we will see.

For Day 28 of NaPoWriMo 2020

and

For Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, hosted by Amy at THE WORLD IS A BOOK…: At home

35 thoughts on “Day 28 & L-A: At home”

  6. Oh, Manja, this is so beautiful:
    “and in the middle of it
    little Manja
    growing up into a secret”!!

    I can see your room and your determination to make it interesting. And the photos–amazing! 😍 I chuckled at the art installation, went ‘awww’ at your sunset-gazer, and took a deep breath in that June light…🙏💜

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  17. Love the way you tidy your room, great way to clean up 🙂 Never tried Swiss chard, this is the first I’ve heard of this veggie, so at some point I must. Glorious photo of the indoor fire.

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