Francesca Bossert's Blog, page 46

TRAMPOLINE

If I had not fallen

I would not have found

The magic trampoline at the bottom

And bounced back bringing armfuls of laughter

To share.

May I offer you a giggle? A chuckle? A smile?

APPLE PIE

  

A memory

A tiny me

You and me

So silly

 

First you put the flour

Tickle tickle

Giggle giggle

Tickle tickle

Giggle giggle

 

Then you roll the pastry

Roll roll

Giggle giggle

Roll roll

Giggle giggle

 

Then you cut the apples

Chop chop

Hahahahahaha

Chop chop

Hahahahahaha

 

Then you put the apples on the pastry

Pat pat pat pat pat

Gugugugugugugug

Pat pat pat pat pat

Gugugugugugugug

 

Then you sprinkle sugar on the apples

Pshhh pshhh pshhhh pshhhh

  

Then you put the apple pie in the oven….

 

And you wait for it to cook….

 

Ooh, I am very hungry, I want to eat my apple pie…

 

Oh no! Where is my apple pie?

 

It has run away!!! You naughty apple pie, I’m going catch you and eat you all up!!

 

GIGGGLE GIGGLE GIGGLE RUN RUN RUN GIGGLE GIGGLE RUN RUN!

 

My papa and I had so much fun…

 

 

LISTENING: do not call my therapist…

If you see me

Hunched over my keyboard

Pulling faces

Making funny gestures

And talking to myself

Do NOT call my therapist.

Know that I am simply listening

To invisible people talking to me

Pulling faces at me

Making funny gestures in front of me

That I am trying to recreate with

My fingers on black squares featuring white squiggles.

 

 

However, I would love another coffee…?

 

 

 

LOITERING

And your husband ?

 

Thank you for asking!

These days he loiters

In Lounge Trousers.

Reconnecting

With those loose layers

Lost over years of

Lawyering with intent.

BAD MAN IN A RAINCOAT

The memory is vivid.

I am three years old. Maybe four?

Whatever.

I am a tiny girl in a department store

Rails of clothes tower above me.

My mother nearby is

Choosing pretty things.

A man.

A raincoat

Yes, I experienced the cliché.

An inappropriate hand finds me in an inappropriate place.

A split second knowing this is very wrong.

I find my mama.

I hold her hand tight.

But I say nothing

For over 50 years.

I still don’t know why.

How many little girls did he stalk between rails of clothing?

Elsewhere?

I have never liked raincoats.

SEASALT

Weathered shutters, a faded aqua-blue,

The shade of his eyes

The way she remembers them.

That night, all those years ago.

As he stood in the entrance of this house

Framed by a tangle of fading jasmine and budding pale pink roses.

Tiny Ballerinas, her grandmother called them.

His shy smile, his skin like a perfect summer-beach.

Sunblonde hair.

Wind-mussed curls

Taut with seasalt.

  

She will see him again.

Tonight.

 

FRENZY

 

Week after week

A frenzy

A torrent

Floodgates wide open

While for two decades I heard

White noise

Embellished by hoofbeats

While lingered a certain melancholy

For joyful words that once had tumbled.

 

Now I play catch up

Running with wide-eyed wonder

Dancing

Feeling

Breathless in this fun frenzy

This frenzy of fun

A Discovery

Poetry ❤️

 

DRIP

 

(A not-so tiny spring poem, the prompt: DRIP)

I know it’s mean to let it rip,

But my ex-husband was quite a drip.

Not in the way you might suppose,

His looks were good, he wore nice clothes.

 

A couple of years after we’d been wed,

He turned into a bonehead.

This man who’d once been rather fun,

His sense of humour came undone!

 

Every time I had a laugh,

He eyed me like I was riffraff.

I wore eggshells instead of shoes,

My heart felt like a giant bruise.

 

And then one day he met a chick,

Some nasty meanie from Munich,

Her little Schnitzel he became,

Apparently she lit his flame.

 

So I asked for a divorce,

Refused all money, cried myself hoarse.

Then suddenly I’d had enough,

Hey, Gemma Talbot could be tough!

 

I washed my hair, reclaimed my groove

To Caliente’s music began to move.

I rang Celeste, then booked a flight,

I would celebrate my life!

 

Ibiza’s the place for me,

I’m the creative sort, you see,

The flight was late, I was quite bored,

When suddenly, oh my sweet lord!

 

A gorgeous man sat next to me,

Emilio Caliente in the next seat!

The Spanish popstar! It was him!

I worried he might find me dim.

 

But goodness me, we had a chat!

But it didn’t stop at that!

To know the rest, I’m so sorry

Read the book Just Like A Movie!

 

SWITZERLAND DECLARES ROMCOMS MANDATORY READING

A great missive arrived today

A fabulous communiqué

I can’t believe this happy news,

It has me tickled, most amused!

 

An influential Swiss committee

Made romcom reading mandatory!

“The people in this land are sad,

It can’t go on, it’s really bad.”

 

“Happiness must be restored,

Across the land, and then paid forward.

Our belief in the power of giggles

Had all of us in quite a jiggle.”

 

“We did research, real serious stuff,

And found a need for frothy fluff.

Literary snobs can eat their hats,

In black and white we’ve got the stats!”

 

The government has passed a law,

Instated April first ‘24

“The good people of Switzerland,

Need romantic comedies for good health.”

 

As of today in this country

No more glum faces we will see.

Instead of chocolate or eating sweets,

Choose romcoms as your daily treats!

 

And throughout the land Swiss people danced,

Brandishing romcoms in their hands!

Across the world please spread this news,

Follow Switzerland’s lead and beat the blues!

 

 (as it happens I have just the book!)

PLEA

(Tiny Spring Poem, the prompt: PLEA) 

A million miles away

On the other side of the world

My child

Anguished

Fragile.

 

His tears tear me in two

I am home

Alone

With only words

Wielding verbal bandaids

Down the phone.

 

Beyond fear

A prayer finds me

And carries my plea

A million miles away

To the other side of the world

To my child.

 

A plea for solace in Bali.

 

Thank you.