Day Six: Hopeful

• Manja Maksimovič

This post is a token of gratitude to Jeanette Winterson. My poem covers some of the events from my past that made me change my story.

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Prompt 6: “Go to a book you love. Find a short line that strikes you. Make that line the title of your poem. Write a poem inspired by the line. Then, after you’ve finished, change the title completely.“

I was the fence which needed to be replaced
Hopeful

You know how this ends.
You leave 
and he builds another fence
and another pond
and another stony path
made of stones that he stole from the creek.

In the pond are remains of the broken vase
which the wind knocked down
after he’d placed it on the outside table,
and you said so
since you had a vision
of it falling,
and you said so.

But you weren’t heard.
Not then 
nor when you planned out the day
that ended with a tango singer from Argentina
whose concert – you knew –  
would finish with a quick tango lesson.

One hour of free dancing,
the kind you’d never even tried.

You wore the shoes for it all day.
You walked in them all over town with him, 
from one saucy gallery to the next.

The strap formed a deep crease 
in the flesh of your foot.

Once the singer was done 
and the free lesson announced,
you threw one hopeful glance 
in his direction.

It was enough.

You turned and walked away. 
Soon forever.

He changed the fence
and you changed the country, 
language, 
dog, 
and everything else.

You tell this story
to the new hopeful.

He moves his head
from side to side
and says:

“Not in a million years.”

Since I included her name in the poetry deck, which we were to make on Day Three, the choice of the book was not hard. Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson is my favourite book, and once I’m won over it’s not easy to lose me.

So this is where the line in the original title of my poem comes from. You can read three passages from the book in my old post here. I add three of my photographs too.

I once wrote her an open letter entitled Grazie for changing my story and posted it on my first blog. I tried to get it to her in various ways but haven’t heard from her (as if she had nothing better to do). It’s been a bit pandemic around here, but I’m still grateful.

Here are some photos to illustrate my fandom.

  • If I really like you, I’ll put you in my tree.
  • Like this. Amore got me a Kobo (Canadian Kindle) in 2014 and Lighthousekeeping was the first book I read on it. These days I use it more than books proper.
  • This was taken in London in 2010 where I missed her for a few days.
  • This is a board above my ex writing desk in Ljubljana. One of the poems is on tango. That’s my Peugeot on Crete down below.
  • A selection of my favourite books. One is by mom. One is by a friend in two languages.
  • The Jeanette corner with some Crodino fun we had with Snow Melts Somewhere.
  • The start of the book poem I “wrote” last year. Read the titles.
  • A new-book-smile from 2014 in Rome by the Tiber.

For:

NaPoWriMo 2021 Button with black background

This day in my NaPoWriMo history (2020):

Merm + Alien

“Fancy meeting you again, Merm.”

“How do you mean again,
when did we meet first?”

“Five hundred years from now.
They call it Woodstock.
We breed. Our children prevail.
When time comes, our youngest is a star.
They, who know nothing, call him Alien.”

“I hope he has my tail.
I can’t help but notice
that it tops yours
in elegance and style.”

“For now, Merm, for now.
I have an idea. Look at your tail.
See, how it splits at the end?
We pull and
this is how you

t
.e
..a
…r

to bear
new life.

Just make sure he has my face.
It’s the last thing they see.”
From The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch.
Parastone Museums Kollektion / Amazon.

32 thoughts on “Day Six: Hopeful”

  3. Moving back story.💜 Your very first line drew me in. I like how the speaker addresses the reader directly–or herself, perhaps. The tone of the caption “If I really like you, I’ll put you in my tree” reminded me of something Mary Oliver said in one of her essays: “If you have ever gone to the woods with me, I must love you very much.” Lucky books!

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  9. I consider Winterson too, but I bumped into Orwell in a bookcase one floor before 🙂 I love what you wrote, and I love what you created after Bojanas challenge to you.

    I got feedback from a magazine that I submitted to that they wanted me to make the poem longer. I didn’t 🙂

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  11. Hoo, that was a wild diversion, ha ha ha. And now I’m back! Your poem struck me so deeply. I felt the ache, even though I couldn’t figure out who the characters are. So when I got to the open letter link, I clicked. And read more about the author you love, and about the man you love, and how you loved yourself so much you decided to give yourself Life. ❤ And then I noticed a link to Bestia's birthday, so I went there next, and finally I am here again. That was fun and filled with love and adventure and pain and new chapters of all kinds. I'm so glad you invited me along. Hugs and kisses. ❤

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    1. I’m so glad that you got diverted and told me all about it. ❤ Thank you so much for reading all this, Crystal. The characters are real and all this really happened. First my ex and then amore said no to tango, hahah. Much love and you're always invited along!

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