Wednesday, April 15, 2015

AnOther Folly

I started my project years ago,
with great enthusiasm.
I began without a blueprint
but as time went on
I dreamt up ever more
elaborate and outrageous designs.

But it seems the walls were built
without enough support
or a proper foundation.
Corners didn’t meet and
dovetails didn’t slide together
but from a distance it looked so lovely
I couldn’t bear to tear it down
and start over,
so I’d just add the next bit,
assuring myself this part would be better
until the haven I intended
was empty and labyrinth-like,
echoing with the sound
of broken promises
and better times that never were.

I tried staying there,
but it couldn’t hold up to the last big storm.
It’s been condemned;
declared unsafe.

From now on
I think I’ll just rent.


This is for the Imaginary Garden where Hedgewitch asked us to write about a folly; the kind that is, "...a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or merely appearing to be so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or the class of building to which it belongs." - Wikipedia

14 comments:

  1. Nothing hurts like walls built where love can't stand. Beautiful

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  2. I smiling, Mary. :) And it really isn't funny taken seriously. We have a lot of allegory houses, yours beats the fabled house of cards. Or two of the tree little pigs'. How to build a proper 'foundation' I really don't know. We've been married 42 years, I hope Mrs. Jim isn't just adding rooms and walls.
    ..

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  3. So many times are filled with failed plans. The folly of creating brilliancy and empty halls, but without foundation they will always crumble.

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  4. Yours is a well examined life


    ALOHA from Honolulu,
    ComfortSpiral
    =^..^=

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  5. rue and snark, at the end, made me smile, Mary ~

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  6. Ha--very clever. Thanks! k. (Manicddaily)

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  7. I'm glad someone tackled the Folly of a bad relationship, Mary--it really was my first thought when I saw that article and the prompt was simmering towards being in my head, but I've written so many of those poems I feel like a broken record! You did a wonderful job here of drawing the metaphor of what we build and come to love so, even if it cannot hold itself together--great last lines, especially. Thanks for playing!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Hedge. I sometimes think I've done to many of those too. It was, and is, a great prompt.

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  8. Sometimes things just don't go as planned, I wonder if renting is any cheaper lol

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  9. Thanks to all of you! I'm enjoying reading your responses.

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  10. How true this is. One can't live with the walls falling in around us. Your poem has great strength in its support.

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  11. I'm smiling, witty one

    Have a creative month
    Much love...

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  12. Yeah but renters don't take care of the place! :-P

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