and the mockingbird sings, I lie in the too-warm room,
his breath a steady, irritating reminder
of nirvanic slumber that eludes me.
Instead, my head waltzes, thoughts barrage my brain
like so much clutter the whirring truck
will soon pick up – the library books,
no bread for lunches, the client meeting
and calls for freezing rain to snarl the overlong commute,
forgotten birthdays, unpaid bills, what’s for dinner,
and the perfume on his collar – not mine – slide
into static, white noise to accompany
tomorrow’s appointment with the radiologist.
Linda Simoni-Wastila crunches numbers by day and churns words at night. You can find her poetry, short fiction, and non-fiction in Tattoo Highway, Six Sentences, The Sun, and Boston Literary Magazine, as well as in several anthologies, including the forthcoming Neuropsychiatry in Poetry. Linda lives and loves in Baltimore, a town where her Northern birthright and Southern upbringing comfortably comingle.
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33 Responses to “Monday morning before the garbage truck comes • by Linda Simoni-Wastila”
Comments
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February 22nd, 2010 at 1:57 am
Beautifully written admirable poem. 5 stars
February 22nd, 2010 at 7:30 am
Great. Beautiful. Poem.
February 22nd, 2010 at 11:11 am
Well done.
February 22nd, 2010 at 12:15 pm
The last comes like a punch in the stomach. Good job, Linda.
–John
February 22nd, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Excellent work. Very moving and well executed. 5 stars.
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:05 pm
This is desolate and lovely at the same time. Excellent poem, Linda.
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Ain’t life grand? love it.
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Yes, the wording is excellent indeed but the pacing has that anxious, overtired, mind-racing quality that echoes the poem’s sentiments. Nicely done.
February 22nd, 2010 at 2:12 pm
That last stanza packs a wallop. Nicely done.
February 22nd, 2010 at 2:37 pm
If only there were a mental garbage truck-I’d pay a hefty sum for that service!
Love this: his breath a steady, irritating reminder of nirvanic slumber that eludes me
Great work, Linda!
February 22nd, 2010 at 4:24 pm
This one hit me like, well, a garbage truck. It knocked the breath out of me. Well done. 5 stars!
February 22nd, 2010 at 4:37 pm
Powerful piece with a double whammy at the end. Great job on this Linda. Loved it!
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Well done !
I empathize totally ‘
Having lost my wife to Cancer.
Without the perfume though!
5 HUGE stars
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:49 pm
Agree that the rhythm and pacing of this helps transcend what I might otherwise consider a listy-list of a poem stuck to the wall with a jagged rusty pin of an ending. Subsequent readings etched a groove in some part of my brain, so the image/idea of the narrator and her attempts to keep fear at bay with the terribly mundane lingers and won’t retreat. I’d say that’s the sign of a good poem!
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:53 pm
Linda, this is touhing. You’ve just written a poem about so many woman in this universe. You deserve five stars on this so I gave them to you.
February 22nd, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Linda…
You know that I think you have a pure gift – This just proves it…
February 23rd, 2010 at 5:08 am
Thank you all — your kind words humble me. Peace, Linda
February 23rd, 2010 at 6:44 am
Sorry I missed this yesterday. It is a strong, realistic & touching piece. Well done!
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:07 am
Your words never disappoint-you are so talented! Thanks for another realistic slice of life, this time in poetry.
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:48 am
I’ve said it before. So much in so little. A writer’s holy grail.
Excellent, Linda.
February 23rd, 2010 at 2:15 pm
I’m lost in awe. You build up to the end, and I never saw it coming.
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:29 pm
Spot on… everyone else has said it. But I just wanted to add my admiration.
February 24th, 2010 at 10:09 am
Though the mockingbird’s warble brought me in, you had me at “my head waltzes” . . . I trailed along and felt the refrain of the rhythms of your mind, in overtime, in overtime. So many of your colleagues and comrades said it so well. My ***** came in the tough white noise of your lingering last line.
Your gift is the vocation of your evocation, Ms Linda.
~ Absolutely*Kate
February 24th, 2010 at 10:14 am
Magdalen – I don’t think the poet tried to keep fear at bay with the “terribly mundane.” I think it’s just that the mundane must occupy our thoughts despite overwhelming pressures from the thoughts about our destinies.
February 24th, 2010 at 10:17 am
Absolutely Kate- But it is precisely the last line (and the lines about infidelity) which are NOT merely white- noise-thoughts.
February 24th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Roberta! Yes, the power of the subconscious is amazing.
February 24th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
So happy my little poem inspires such spirited discussion — thank you!
February 25th, 2010 at 8:12 am
Magdalen – I don’t see where the subconscious enters into this writing. I mean despite heavy worries about illness and infidelity which are worries about ultimate destiny – the little buzzing thoughts about returning the library books and purchasing the bread must be given attention.
February 28th, 2010 at 1:05 am
[...] not up to poetry every day, though, do take a look at February’s most-read poems: “Monday Morning Before the Garbage Truck Comes” by Linda Simoni-Wastila, “Lost & Found” by Stacy Post, and “The [...]
February 28th, 2010 at 4:02 am
[...] http://www.everydaypoets.com/monday-morning-before-the-garbage-truck-comes-by-linda-simoni-wastila/ [...]
March 1st, 2010 at 12:01 am
[...] http://www.everydaypoets.com/monday-morning-before-the-garbage-truck-comes-by-linda-simoni-wastila/ [...]
March 27th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
This is excellent. Wonderful images make this poem a strong, visual experience.
And the ending leaves a lasting impression.
Congrats, Linda
Laurel
May 5th, 2010 at 12:06 am
[...] what does it mean to you personally? Did the views or our readers make you see it in a new light? “Monday morning” was one of those poems that I ‘wrote’ in the wee morning when, like the subject of the poem, a [...]