Returning to my kitchen

On Sunday

I started to read your “Some stories”

But stopped

I didn’t want to just read it

I wanted to savour it, immerse myself in the world created by your words

Later I listened to you reading it

But stopped, again

On Monday

I put it on while I was cooking and listened

Not so immersed as I’d intended, but by then it seemed quite intellectual, thoughtful

I followed along

At a distance

Until

“There was a moment…”

Suddenly

I’m wrenched from my distance

Thrown directly into it

My hands and face on the gravel, rough and scratchy

My throat hoarse with rage and grief

But also departed, aloft, free

The world spread out below me, no longer binding me

But also sitting in the burgundy car, watching the landscape roll by

Stunned and confused by the raw outpouring

Returning to my kitchen

I'm shattered

Fragmented and yet not

Somehow all one, all at once

[23 February 2023]

Link to "Some stories...".