Since it is the time of the year when there are so many family reunions I thought I would go, today, with this poem by Sylvia Plath. Her thoughts on what you must do to be part of that "Family Reunion"
Susan
Enjoy
Family Reunion
Outside in the street I hear
A car door slam; voices coming near;
Incoherent scraps of talk
And high heels clicking up the walk;
The doorbell rends the noonday heat
With copper claws;
A second's pause.
The dull drums of my pulses beat
Against a silence wearing thin.
The door now opens from within.
Oh, hear the clash of people meeting ---
The laughter and the screams of greeting :
Fat always, and out of breath,
A greasy smack on every cheek
From Aunt Elizabeth;
There, that's the pink, pleased squeak
Of Cousin Jane, out spinster with
The faded eyes
And hands like nervous butterflies;
While rough as splintered wood
Across them all
Rasps the jarring baritone of Uncle Paul;
The youngest nephew gives a fretful whine
And drools at the reception line.
Like a diver on a lofty spar of land
Atop the flight of stairs I stand.
A whirlpool leers at me,
I cast off my identity
And make the fatal plunge.
How true. I too come from a very small family, those few of us left are spread apart. I would like to experience this just once more....making the fatal plunge. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAll this and the smell of turkey and dressing baking merrily away and the ever growing supply of cakes and pies and cookies.
ReplyDeleteGood choice! There must really be families like this ... somewhere ... though not mine.
ReplyDeleteWe were a small family, many family members lived a country away, but I've always found it to be fun to read of holidays that were rather hectic. ;~D
great choice susan
ReplyDeletemmmmm love Sylvia Plath.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the read:)
ReplyDeletewow, this has such fantastic imagery ... I see those upturned faces, all awaiting her entrance into life. She was an interesting one.
ReplyDeletehttp://sylvie1.multiply.com/journal/item/917/_POETRY_WEDNESDAY_