only child —
born in the landscape
of let’s pretend
Published by
Roberta Beary
Roberta Beary lives in Mayo, Ireland.
Their work appears in Tiny Love Stories: True Tales of Love in 100 Words or Less (New York Times, 2020) and One Breath: Notes from the Reluctant Engagement Project (Doire Press/ Clan Beo, 2021) which pairs their haiku with artwork by families of people with disabilities.
View all posts by Roberta Beary
7 thoughts on “”
I found this beautiful and moving at once.
I remember my niece being an only child for a long time and she always talked about her (make-believe) friend. I can only imagine her delight when she discovered she was going to have a little sister.
“a poem that digs deep into collective promises based on debateable, traditional premises designed to comfort one’s self during our short existence. this also exmaines what we see ,or want to see, rather than what is. it examines on another level of the being different degrees of awareness. what gets ignored to create a certain landscape in fact takes away from the spirit of our ordinary existence and reality. the key to warming the soul, the chi, the heart, is to live in an ordinary existence and have your eyes open wide enough to see all the things that are before you. so much is uncovered by this poet’s pen and shovel.”
This comment is by Stanford M. Forrester who was unable to upload his comment
__Now, such a prudent parallel: "this poet's pen and shovel", . inventing, and placing that which is imagined as seen, and their being becomes greatly sensed._m
__Grand comment Stanford_!
I found this beautiful and moving at once.
I remember my niece being an only child for a long time and she always talked about her (make-believe) friend. I can only imagine her delight when she discovered she was going to have a little sister.
TY,Marion. So glad my poem speaks to your family experience.
Magical ❤
“a poem that digs deep into collective promises based on debateable, traditional premises designed to comfort one’s self during our short existence. this also exmaines what we see ,or want to see, rather than what is. it examines on another level of the being different degrees of awareness. what gets ignored to create a certain landscape in fact takes away from the spirit of our ordinary existence and reality. the key to warming the soul, the chi, the heart, is to live in an ordinary existence and have your eyes open wide enough to see all the things that are before you. so much is uncovered by this poet’s pen and shovel.”
This comment is by Stanford M. Forrester who was unable to upload his comment
__Now, such a prudent parallel: "this poet's pen and shovel", . inventing, and placing that which is imagined as seen, and their being becomes greatly sensed._m
__Grand comment Stanford_!
Oh, yes! As an only child fir my first nine years I can relate to that.
I went on many adventures in my head, sometimes accompanied by Teddy.
Thank you for bringing back some memorable moments, Roberta.
Chickadee
how I love you
upright
on a snow-covered acorn
the cold of this wildness