The Usual Place

The creek at Peace Valley Park


Meet me at our usual place.
You know, 
the one we found together.
The sun is bright enough
today to paint glitter on the creek.

Let’s both bring our lunch.
We can eat it after we go wading.
If the creek isn’t too high,
I might cross to the other side
just to see what the view is like from there.

We’ll walk as we go talking, taking in all the scents of the woods,
from honeysuckle to loamy earth. You always did like
the way it smelled like the sea where the streams met.

I’ll bring an Inca Cola. You bring a Jarrito.
We’ll crack them open by the shade of the hollow tree.
You can point out all the plants you know by name.
Me, I am still learning where to find mugwort.
Maybe I’ll be successful growing my own this year.

We’ll talk about all the boys
who did us wrong.
We’ll talk about the ones who did us
right and the creek will laugh
as it flows right over the rocky parts.

We’ll talk about places away
from this creek, the honeysuckle and the woods.
You'll talk about England. I'll talk about Japan.
And we really will mean it
when we say we wanted to see them together.

Meet me at our favorite spot.
I’ll be there even when the sun has set,
when the water’s laughter is whisper above a hush,
when the honeysuckle's scent is spent,

and the moon paints mourning silver on the creek.



Song Choice: The Space Between from Disney's Descendants

The Liner Notes for This Groove: This poem was created for the Weekly Scribblings prompt at Poets and Storytellers United, Where Are You Placed?

 

53 comments:

  1. A gorgeous spot, very beautifully described ... and the tears began quite early in, as I realised who you were talking to. Not only a beautiful description of place, but also of a friendship brought alive in your words.

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    1. Thanks, Rosemary. I had a chance to get up by Peace Valley recently and a bunch of memories hit me out of the blue. It was good timing for the prompt, and writing does help me work out my feelings.

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  2. I just love this poem, Rommy! There's nothing like a "kindred spirit" friend from childhood. I had one too but lost track of her when we were about 20. We lived in different cities by then and the last contact I had with her was when I sent her a wedding present. Once she was married, I never heard from her again. I wonder if her husband cut her off from former friends because I can't imagine her just dropping me like that. But who knows? I often think of her and hope our paths may cross again some day. I remember her every year on her birthday.

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    1. Not to go on and on and on, but I blogged about her when I first started my blog --

      https://shewhoseeks.blogspot.com/2008/12/childhood-friends-tomboy.html

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    2. Cat and I were very much kindred spirits. And Anne of Green Gables was a favorite too. We could be either Anne or Diana depending on the situation. LOL, though when we went on our Disney trip together we were Mal and Evie (hence the video).

      I keep wondering when the lost feeling will go away. I know it's only been a month after she died, and these things take time. So many of my local favorite places have memories of her being there too.

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  3. Lively read, I knew her when. When we could pick a low water place and cross the Rio Grande to the other side just to pick some flowers and say we'd been. Still can, there's no wall there yet, or ever in my memories.
    ..


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  4. What a lovely usual place, Rommy, to meet a friend and to take your readers. I love the idea of the sun painting glitter on the creek and the atmosphere created in the lines:
    ‘We’ll walk as we go talking, taking in all the scents of the woods,
    from honeysuckle to loamy earth. You always did like
    the way it smelled like the sea where the streams met.’
    And the ending is so beautifully wistful and poignant.

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    1. Thank you. That particular spot is one of my favorites in all of Peace Valley.

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  5. Yes; I could feel it: the place, the people, the warmth.
    Beautiful and wistfully related. Well done!

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  6. Those favorite places we remember from our younger past should never be revisited after a period of years as some changes always occur and usually so much for the worse. I revisited parts of Britain where I used to live fifty years ago or more but it had changed substantially for the worse.

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    1. Funnily enough I also heard that the birds of prey had gotten aggressive there and dinged up the hood of someone's car. I'm glad I wasn't visiting when that happened.

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  7. Oh, Rommy, you took us there! A beautiful spot with beautiful memories, so well portrayed and brought to life for us. Bravo!

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  8. So nice. I very much love creeks and streams and exploring just around their next bend. I love the idea of the sun painting glitter on the creek. I've seen sun like that hitting water.

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    1. Wading in creeks and streams is one of my favorite summer things to do. <3 I'm looking forward to it this year, though it will be very bittersweet.

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  9. and the moon paints mourning silver on the creek....

    that last line gave me chills

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    1. Glad to know I stuck the landing. :D Thanks, Deb

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    2. This still gives me a chill even after the third reading. It is going to be a fav "quote" of mine, Rommy

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  10. I can see that place so clear, hear the laughter and gossip, feel the love... I love that the poems progresses like a walk, the way the speaker seems to be inviting us to meet her there. And in the closing, I can recognize the bittersweet mixture of loss and hope... hope that new memory will be possible at dusk.

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    1. Thanks, Magaly. Yeah, I was hoping that's exactly how it would come across, from the feeling of walking by the creek, to the loss and hope in the end.

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  11. A most excellent place. Good company as well!

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  12. Loveky scenery presented. Happy Wednesday

    Much❤love

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  13. Very nice. Simple, straightforward, heartfelt.

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  14. So many good things can happen in a favorite place, a special place.

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  15. wistful - that final line - yet also filled with joy. and rabbit ears :)

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    1. LOL, Cat liked being silly. It was why we got along so well.

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  16. Perfect ,,,, the usual place.

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  17. Wow what a beautiful walk and friendship painted in words
    and these lines are stunning
    "I’ll be there even when the sun has set,
    when the water’s laughter is whisper above a hush,
    when the honeysuckle's scent is spent,

    and the moon paints mourning silver on the creek."

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  18. Happy Mother's Day Rommy

    Much🌷love

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  19. Sounds like a fun place to go. There are our favourite places, and there are places that will always be in our memories. your poem reminds me of that.

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    1. I can still go there now. But it will be a different place for me now that she's gone.

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  20. I feel transported. Maybe a like a bird in a tree there.

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    1. It is a great place to be a bird! There are often a lot of bird watchers out and about Peace Valley.

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  21. What a beautiful write, Rommy. Having experienced the loss of good friends, I identified so with your words. Weren't we lucky to have such a friendship?

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    1. We were. ❤️ Friends like that are a blessing, even if they can't stay as long as we would have liked them too.

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  22. A peaceful place shared with a friend. What could be better?

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    1. Indeed. Those were great afternoons spent there.

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  23. A nostalgic walk back in time to simple pleasures and laughter. I could smell that honeysuckle, and see a silvery moon.

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    1. It is all especially lovely if you happen to be there by moonlight

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  24. I love the line about the sun "painting glitter on the creek." Great write!

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  25. This is all sooooooooo wonderful. I am beyond words. Really, I am!

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  26. I love this Rommy! I really do! Kindred spirits, how special! Big Hugs!

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  27. So evocative! I really felt like I was there! I want to be! I still have yet to try Inca Cola!

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