It’s a curious thing, isn’t it? The longing for a time and place you’ve never existed in. Imagine sitting in your own attic, surrounded by a collection of nostalgic keepsakes, tracing the contours of a life that feels like it slipped through your fingers. In the beautifully evocative poem I’m about to share, we encounter a protagonist enveloped in her own dreams—dreams tangled in the vibrant tapestry of 1950s America. She finds solace beneath a skylight, sipping Coca-Cola, flipping through scrapbooks filled with relics of a bygone era, all while acknowledging the stark reality that her adventurous spirit can’t escape the confines of her present. It’s a poignant reflection on individualism, courage, and the bittersweet nature of daydreaming. So, pull up a chair, pour yourself your favorite drink, and journey into this tender exploration of yearning and imagination… LEARN MORE.
Twenty minutes or there abouts
after they have all left for work and school.
She grabs a glass bottle of Coca Cola
and her feet step quickly attic-ward.
As she closes the door softly behind herself,
she sighs just like always
and surveys her little chamber with a smile.
She’s been fascinated with 1950’s America
since a child and just knows deep down inside
that she was born in the wrong country and era.
Sitting cross legged upon the dreamcatcher rug
set under the little skylight,
she flicks through one of the scrapbooks
she keeps filled with cuttings of cars, diners,
refrigerators, Disneyland
and a bunch of postcards of Manhattan
which she picked up on eBay.
And daydreams away wistfully
about the Grand Canyon and Emigrating,
conscious all the while that it’ll never happen
for outside of this private ‘Afternoon Attic’
her Individualism and Courage cease to exist.
More at http://paultristram.blogspot.co.uk/.
