Ingredients:
1. Something that could be
used for digging (but is not meant for) digging.
2.
A person you had almost
completely forgotten about, until now.
3.
A routine chore
4.
The person, place or thing
nobody warned you about.
1.
seashell
2.
Melanie (1st best
friend)
3.
washing dishes
4.
time
~~~
While
digging/scraping/carving/mining/piercing/slitting(#1), whatever, find the
forgotten person(#2)inside. Discover how all that he/she does is the one
chore(#3) all day long. And beautifully. Why?
Discover the one thing
they could have warned you about(#4), had you remembered them. Don't fiddle too
much with details, instead, write how you live your life differently, now that
you remember this person. Now that you know they knew what you didn't know,
until now. Oh, and make sure you only find them once. Also, make sure you
continue to try to find them again, but never do.
~~~
Girl was seashell beach digging when Girl
found her,
sand castle moat scraping
on the way to China next to the lake bed.
Girl had forgotten,
but as soon as she puffed up that
breath-ful of sand,
Girl began the remembering.
She was little, with bright eyes
and soft hair and a quiet voice
that said a lot of big things.
Girl hadn’t seen her for a while.
Girl wondered where she’d gone away
so Girl started asking her questions:
Where did you come from?
Does the sand scratch your eyes?
What do you remember?
Was it cold there?
She replied:
memory and yesterday
not when I blink them real fast
only the answers
sand is warm and held me tight
Girl wanted to know so much more:
Do you have a mother?
What is the biggest number you know?
Want to play?
She answered:
everyone came from someone
I don’t think I’ve counted it yet
yes, please
So, Girl played with her all afternoon
they played with the seashells and the
bright plastic buckets
and made shapes and mounds and piles
once all the sand had been wiggled around
and the shade was quieting their ratatat
hearts
they sat squat at the lapping waves and
washed the dishes
she was good at cleaning the buckets,
going out deep enough to avoid the sandy
water,
kicked up from all their play
she swirled each basin slow to unstick the
stuck bits
Girl watched careful,
Girl had never seen anyone watch dishes
with such care before.
Girl’s mother would probably like her.
Just like that, Girl heard her family call
turned from the shore to see where the
sound was from.
Girl looked back at her
but all Girl saw was a clean stack of
seashells and bright plastic buckets
she was nowhere to be seen,
the day was done and time had passed
and Girl only had more questions:
Where does the time go?
Are you happy?
Where did you learn to wash dishes?
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