[mignon ledgard]

Still Life and a Song

Amid embroidered napkins, iron frogs
my mother placed inside a crystal vase
still keep the Ikebana flowers straight,
displayed as usual on the mantelpiece.
I’m in my daughter’s house. My grandson plays
my father’s baby grand and sings, like him!
Full voice and passion! Quite a treat to see
the future making space for well-worn things:
the leather couch, a tarnished silver jug,
Peruvian paintings on the walls, an egg!
My ostrich egg! An abstract marble nude,
a copper fish, a fist of fossil mud,
and on the étagère, old photographs
of ageless angel faces with no names.

Line 8: making space for . . (Thanks, Carl)
and change of title
~
Lines 6 and 7
Em dash gone, guitar back in its shrine
Still not sure about title, except for Still Life.


Still Life and Strings

Amid embroidered napkins, iron frogs
my mother placed inside a crystal vase
still keep the Ikebana flowers straight,
displayed as usual on the mantelpiece.
I’m in my daughter’s house. My grandson plays
my father’s baby grand and old guitar—
he sings like him—with soul!—a treat to see
the future make new space for well-worn things:
the leather couch, a tarnished silver jug,
Peruvian paintings on the walls, an egg!
My ostrich egg! An abstract marble nude,
a copper fish, a fist of fossil mud,
and on the étagère, old photographs
of ageless angel faces with no names.

(Lines 6 and 7)


Revision 2
Beyond the Chimney (?)

Amid embroidered napkins, iron frogs
my mother placed inside a crystal vase
still keep the Ikebana flowers straight,
displayed as usual on the mantelpiece.
I’m in my daughter’s house. My grandson plays
my father’s baby grand and old guitar,
he sings, he carries on! A treat to see
the future make new space for well-worn things:
the leather couch, a tarnished silver jug,
Peruvian paintings on the walls, an egg!
My ostrich egg! An abstract marble nude,
a copper fish, a fist of fossil mud,
and on the étagère, old photographs
of ageless angel faces with no names.

*(Lines 6 and 7 to drop ‘grandpa’ and clarify)


Revision 1 - change of title

Yesterday Takes a Seat

Amid embroidered napkins, iron frogs
my mother placed inside a crystal vase
still keep the Ikebana flowers straight,
displayed as usual on the mantelpiece.
I’m in my daughter’s house. My grandson plays
my father’s baby grand and sings like him:
guitar and passion—quite a treat to see
the future make new space for well-worn things:
the leather couch, a tarnished silver jug,
Peruvian paintings on the walls, an egg!
My ostrich egg! An abstract marble nude,
a copper fish, a fist of fossil mud,
and on the étagère, old photographs
of ageless angel faces with no names.


Above the Chimney

Amid embroidered napkins, iron frogs
my mother placed inside a crystal vase
still keep the Ikebana flowers straight,
displayed as usual on the mantelpiece.
I’m in my daughter’s house. My grandson plays
my father’s baby grand and sings as grandpa did:
guitar and passion—quite a treat to see
the future make new space for well-worn things:
the leather couch, a tarnished silver jug,
Peruvian paintings on the walls, an egg!
My ostrich egg! An abstract marble nude,
a copper fish, a fist of mud that’s petrified,
and on the étagère, old photographs
of ageless angel faces with no names.


~mignon