hair coiled like ammonites
she hangs
suspended
steeped in nostalgia –
memories darkening around her,
twining smoke,
blind to the fading photograph,
the dust gathering,
the echoes scattering
like sunlight on water
my paper nautilus adrift
on the turbulent ocean
endlessly spiralling
inward
seeking depth
Mish is hosting quadrille night at dVerse, the poets’ pub. The word is “steep” but the prices aren’t. Boom boom.
Sarah writes poems 
I like the inward spiraling and being steeped in nostalgia.
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I love the way you describe her character… I feel she lives on her memories.
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I have a clear image from your quadrille, Sarah, which is a watercolour and has lots of blues. I like the ‘hair coiled like ammonites’, the ‘twining smoke’ and the ‘paper nautilus adrift / on the turbulent ocean’.
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Lots of spiralling forms.
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Hmmm, rich. But I don’t understand the photograph — introduced as “the” photograph, as if I should know it. And I wasn’t sure about what echoes.
I looked up ammonite images (very cool) and see them as extinct ancestor of the nautilus (also had to look up) but not sure why yours is paper. Sorry, on lost reader. But loved phrases and vocabulary.
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The photograph was just an example of how we try to hold onto the past. A paper nautilus is actually an octopus, or something, that was supposed to sail round the oceans. I was taken with the name.
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ah, thanx
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the echoes scattering
like sunlight on water
oh Sarah – i have never read something so beautiful as this – i think of all the unheard words and silent dreams
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there is a sense of a long passage of time, adrift…..
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You had me at /memories darkening around her/. It is so light and lyrical; lovely to recite, soft on the tongue.
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Oh, I’m glad you read it aloud. I say my poems over and over to get the sound right.
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I get a sense of introspection. I have read it twice now, and it flows like honey.
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Thank you. Introspection is what I was after!
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I love your use of ammonites, paper nautilus and the photographs of course. My mother was like that before she died, living her life through old photos. Lovely poem. drifting through an ocean of memories.
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This is incredibly beautiful, Sarah! ❤️ Being human we do tend to hold on to the past (regardless of whether it’s good or bad) especially love the use of paper nautilus 🙂
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I had the idea this was a poem about a painting, hanging suspended. I do like the imagery though I think I might be on the wrong track with it.
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I like the blending of visual and auditory with…”the echoes scattering
like sunlight on water”…wonderful imagery. This quadrille made me think of someone suffering from Alzheimer’s.
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I love the images here–the spirals through memories. There seems to be a sort of yearning.
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beautiful images , Sarah.
“my paper nautilus adrift
on the turbulent ocean”
To be honest, I don’t spend too much time searching for a poem’s meaning…I just like the pictures this creates…well done!
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You’ve created a lovely image of both stillness and movement. The beginning also calls to mind fossils and statuary for me.
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I like the way you have paced this to accentuate the tone.
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steeped in nostalgia –
memories darkening around her,
twining smoke,
There is a sense of memory loss as if she is trying to hold on to the light. It made me feel weepy in a good way.
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Super like the paper nautilus spiraling and steeping. Wonderful.
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A lovely poem, rich in metaphors grounded in truth.
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Seeking depth… I find depth in your poetry, In the images and the sounds. I love the sounds here and gently recursive winding.
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Beautiful description here…..steeping in nostalgia….memories echoing, scattering like sunlight on water. I picture her in a pensive mood, alone, thinking about more youthful times.
The memory can be like a nautilus with one memory spiraling back to another to another….deeper deeper into the past. When we are older, there is more distance for the spiraling.
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“…the echoes scattering like sunlight on water.” What a beautiful visual this is Sarah. Wonderful poem!
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Beautiful imagery throughout this whole poem, Sarah! I love, “hair coiled like ammonites”.
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I love how the imagery is all connected with spirals – very much like a “trip down memory lane” except the lane is made of water and it curves around eddies. Beautiful work!
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What we feel inside is twined into who we are on the outside, but there is so much that is caught up in the stitching that the borders get lost. (K)
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