The Balcony
The girl likes to draw on the balcony wall. The blue wall is a sea and she can draw boats on it. When her best friend visited, they drew a house together. They showed each other scars where the pen had scratched. Inoculation. The girl knows this word. She knows many words now. The girl is five years old. She can see a road from the balcony. Across the road is a desert, or so she would like to believe. When she looks hard, she can see camels and white tents. This place used to be a swamp, her mother says. Swamp is another word she knows. And variola. There is sand on the playground, but the girl is not allowed to play in the sand any more. That’s how you get variola and it is forbidden. The girl is not really afraid. Variola is a word and she knows many other words now. She doesn’t mind staying on the balcony, either. She looks at her arm, where a scar is forming. The girl will carry this scar in the shape of a flower for ever.
GloPoWriMo Day 2 - a poem about a specific place
Here's more on the smallpox outbreak in Yugoslavia in 1972: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Yugoslav_smallpox_outbreak .Sadly, this is one of my earliest memories.
Here's more on the smallpox outbreak in Yugoslavia in 1972: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Yugoslav_smallpox_outbreak .Sadly, this is one of my earliest memories.
What a unique viewpoint! It's sad that it's a true story, but you wrote very well.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jenna.
DeleteCan you give me the link to your blog? I can't find it through Google. I'd love to visit you.
Ah! I remember the film. And could see the girl on the balcony, smart and taking it in.
ReplyDeleteSo good to read you again! Let's make this April happier with poems.
Yes, I like that film. Can't watch it right now, though.
DeleteI agree, so good that we can connect and read each other's poetry again.