Try writing about beginnings our tutor suggested… by Mel
My internal clock wakes me five minutes before the alarm’s set time
I leap from my warm cocoon, eager to greet the day
Is it sunny? Yes. Switch the washing machine on? Yes.
First though, is the body stretching routine.
Next, is the journal writing, the soul searching, eager scribbling time
that sets me up well for a brand new day of work and play
Then it’s time for breakfast in the sun and for soaking up the peace
and joy of this warm quiet place.
The washing machine is purring gently.
The pussy cat is meowing insistently.
The neighbour’s car rolls down their drive quietly.
It’s time for the news while I’m munching the muesli
The announcer splinters my reverie with a shock horror tone
…”the massacre of eight thousand Muslims”
Eight thousand husbands, fathers, sons
and the rape of forty thousand wives, mothers and daughters.
My body constricts and my brain numbs.
What unimaginable anguish for them – what horror.
What is the way to respond to such atrocity I wonder.
My friends tell me that I must stop tormenting myself
“You just have to stop caring so much about others
and think more about yourself
and stay normal!”
What’s normal? Normal me? Normal reaction? Normal world?
The washing machine cheeps at me to hang the washing out.
The clock tells me that it’s time to get going.
Pretending to be normal
to not let your body and mind
react to the madness of our world
is enough to drive anyone crazy.
Mel
27 May 2011
