Jul 6
In This Small Room
in this small room
the walls are sighing
diaphragmatic rhythms
pulse the air
one round table
three legs beneath
weak & unstable
as my heart’s beat
the lamp casts
light shadows
onto the floor
chimera of bone & sinew
remain untouched
folded in self-containment
light and dark
found on x-ray film
through the window
the fog clings
to the bare-boned tree
just a blurred vision
bound by borders
between what is here
and what is not
in this small room
Pamela Olson, 7/6/08
This poem was inspired
by the prompt at
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There seems to be no escape from the agony inside the room as the outside world repeats the pattern within. Haunting. These lines are heart-rending:
chimera of bone & sinew
remain untouched
folded in self-containment
light and dark
found on x-ray film
Very moody poem, I am transported to a hospital room.
the tree encased in fog seems a point of hope in a sad time.
Amazing how a conjuction of mood inside and weather outside can dominate the setting, despite light and heating…
The parallel of the bone and sinew inside to the fog clinging to the bare boned tree outside is striking; the window mirrors what is within? Lovely.
Haunting. Nicely done.
This is absolutely spectacular. Definitely my favorite of yours.
Beautiful poem all the way through. I especially like the last two stanzas which could almost stand as a poem in their own right. “bound by borders of what is here and what is not….” The words just wrap around me and pull me in.
Oh my, Pam! It’s just a wonderful poem! Very special! The photo is like the x-ray you name in the poem…:)
I can read this poem over and over again…I feel her, the poem to be beatrice and myself a female dante…there is a need for me to be here inside…to feel the diaphragmatic rhythm…to fall into the chimera of bone and sinew…
Simply outstanding – please submit this poem, Pam.
Going back to read for a fifth time.
This is reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe to me.
Love the blurring of boundaries and creation of unusual shapes in the poem.
I enjoyed the solemn poem and your excellent photo.
Wow! Very powerful imagery in this– and lots to think about. This is one of those poems that offers something new each time you read it again. Lovely stuff.
Oh, I just love it! Almost feel like I am there experiencing the room, and the view out the window.
That is very lovely!
interesting light in the shadows of untouchable
Someone else used the word I was thinking – haunting. I can imagine my father on his many trips to the hospital, xrays and mri’s… etc living this – or perhaps my mother, who sits by his side, imprisoned by his trials…
you have a talent for transporting your reader into your mind!
Loved the shadowy tensions in this!
..a wonderfully sensitive poem..thank u..
Powerful and thought-provoking. Well done. G
Not an easy poem to read (and I mean that as praise for its intensity and depth)- it is one that indeed haunts, touches all the senses, lingers. This is my first visit here, but I will most definitely be back.
Sensitive and moody. Well done!
This is beautiful…
please let me link to you.
You may link to me as well.
-Alice
I wanted to thank each of you for your comments. This was a poem that was born of a difficult time but there is always hope. The small room, to me, is a symbol of the spirituality of soul/mind, how I sometimes feel confined but strive to find the beauty in that confinement.
I have been reading the poems on this page. You really have a gift for transporting the reader. And your words have a way of lingering long after they are read.