One day, Mrs Mabel McFinn draped
her shoulders in shadows and left
her husband Fergus McFinn to deal
with his cobwebs and leftover stew.
Mrs Mabel McFinn fled with a dream
to become, a catcher of lions or even
a bridge-builder, map-maker. player
of drums, leaving dear Fergus behind.
He waited for Mabel in vain, while
drawing circles in dust that she left,
and when Mabel returned, dressed
in the skins of the lion she’d shot, her
husband, dear Fergus McFinn was
lost in the umbra of wallpaper bloom.
Mary Warner à contre-jour by Heinrich Kuhn
This is a small poem for Kerry at toads. My hand-writing was not with me tonight, but I kept it short at least. I will also link up to Poetry Pantry tomorrow.
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October 20, 2018
Björn Rudbergs writings 
My handwriting is never with me. I did take a screen shot of my file I keep on the computer of ongoing ideas, lines, etc. The best I could do. I like that Mrs. Mabel left and went out on her own. Good for her!
There are so many instances where either one of the two leaves the other in search of something better .. be it to achieve superior goals or to relish the darkest hours where lust takes control. Powerful write, Bjorn! 😊
Ha, I think she was right to leave! When adventure calls, one should heed that call and go for it!
I love the subtle reference to “The Yellow Wallpaper” at the end — sort of a gender reversal of the story.
I love the name you gave her.
I hope she’s a drummer in a band somewhere now. 🙂
Amazing to hear about that story which I’ve never read… but I used a wallpaper image in a short story in the first of the collections… more a solace to walk into the wallpaper and find a garden.
This is such an incredibly great narrative! I can totally get where Mrs Mabel is coming from. Brilliant read of the awesome photo..
I like the reverse circularity of this poem, Bjorn, with Mabel’s shoulders draped in shadows at the beginning and Fergus ‘lost in the umbra of wallpaper bloom’ at the end – I agree with Shawna about the subtle reference to ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’. I love that Mabel:
‘…fled with a dream
to become, a catcher of lions or even
a bridge-builder, map-maker. player
of drums…’
I have never read the yellow wallpaper (need to do that now)… but i did use the wallpaper in a short story I wrote a while ago.
I remember, as a child, being terrified of the faces in my grandmother’s rose wallpaper.
Ooh, this is so interesting — the adventurous spirit is wonderful. It’s rather good of her to leave and follow her dreams. I too loved the gender reversal in how you define these roles and experiences, breaking the stereotypical threshold.
This is amazing. I too live the names you gave to the. I could kind of feel myself here. Good on her for chasing her own dreams and escaping.
Oh, this is really cool. Player of drums! Love imagining where that dream-scape has taken her. I got a flash of The Yellow Wallpaper reading this, too.
I have not read the yellow wallpaper… but I actually used a similar idea in a short story I wrote once.
I sit wondering for what purpose she returned. Was it to share her adventure or to gloat?
I do not really know… would anyone have asked if the roles were reverted?
Now you have made me start thinking again. I was probably coming from my perspective as a female wondering if I would have returned and if so why. That is the greatness in your writings, you make me think.
Maybe she cared deeply for him, but she couldn’t bear to let him destroy her spirit.
I am intrigued by that wallpaper in the end. Cool story!
Channeling Mable right now!! Thank you. My handwriting has disappeared at the ripe old age of 77 ~ so I print.
Wow. Love that first stanza. So beautiful: “draped
her shoulders in shadows.” Well done.
Very nice! We should all take off to find our dreams.
What an evocative image! Wow – and it’s so smokey for the ambiance and dreaming – and I really like this short story Bjorn! The opening lines just sets such a clear scene, idea … and we are drawn into the wrap. I love the “disconnect” in the listing of possibilities and choices, the “anything” she might choose, and so off to seek and find herself, and the “intangible” it …. and the waiting came, so well and carefully worded, for its own sense of confounding nature; you’ve painted the scene with both drive and determination, strength and yet offered the poignant sensitivity of the loss. And yes, what an idea, walking into floral wallpaper seeking another type of garden of Eden – paradise lost, found, perhaps never truly held in the hands at all …. Great story here, on so many levels!
I like how the mutual theme, longing, is still shared, even as the couple’s interests diverge.