Remembered at Dinner
A reunion where he lingers
Some subjects are not resolved — only remembered.
🥢🧧🧨
The table -
A family feast.
Everyone fussing with frankness.
Red. Pink.
Lanterns over the door.
Symbols of prosperity.
Kindred souls.
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Eating.
Refreshing rawness of roe.
Familial jokes.
"Remember how Uncle Henry died?"
Silence cloaks the table.
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The dining room pauses.
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The dog by the window.
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Canned laughter.
"Delicious."
"Is that program on?"
Chewing, slowly.
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Silently.
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Shoes on.
Purposeful steps.
"See you next year."
Uncle Henry - remembered.
🥢🧧🧨
Original poem by Michelle Liew Tsui-Lin. AI tags are coincidental.
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About the Creator
Michelle Liew Tsui-Lin
Hi, i am an English Language teacher cum freelance writer with a taste for pets, prose and poetry. When I'm not writing my heart out, I'm playing with my three dogs, Zorra, Cloudy and Snowball.
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Here's a stupid thing: I adore art, but I start to panic whenever I step into a gallery. In the one place I should be at my contented best - surrounded by walls teeming with creative expression - I fall apart. What ought to be an enriching experience, tacitly designed to facilitate the exploration of human empathy and perspective, is for me an overwhelming purgatory of anxiety that compresses me to the point I cannot breathe. At the same time, I experience a sense of extraction, as though my head is being prized open to create a hole so big my sanity could evaporate. Somewhere between these two opposing forces of vice and vortex, I feel myself dissolving in a stream of panic that makes me want to cry; and I feel so daft feeling this way, that all I want to do is run for the hills.
By Caroline Janea day ago in Humans
Comments (2)
New Year feast can be back fond memories and sometimes not but its all good. Great imagery of your family gathering 🥰
Lovely poetry and images, and a great challenge entry