It’s not the thorny scent
of blooming sloe in spring,
not its delicate lace hiding the sharp barbs
not the warmth of sun
while walking barefoot late in May
but the dark decay and mildew
reeking from the dusty corners
of my childhood room,
where once
I did my homework
while warming my hands on the desk-lamp,
that follows in my wake,
as I sort through the pack-rat memories
mother left for me.
Today Sarah wants us to use our senses to describe a story or a character at dVerse. This I think quite closely describe my childhood and the process of cleaning out our family home that still lies before me.
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October 29, 2019
Björn Rudbergs writings 
Such a hard task. I like your choice of smell as the sense here – the sense most associated with memory.
Light exists only in relation to its shadow and vice versa. I like the way you dabbled with both.
The smell of scent is the strongest of all the memories. I like how you wrote this – the pack rat memories…such a hard task to do.
Cleaning out your childhood home, such a difficult thing to do. You captured it well.
I like the description of what your mother left as “pack-rat memories”.
A wonderful premise and message. I’m in the winter of my life now, at the point where I look at the childhood artifacts with new/old eyes, and begin to let go of them.
Mothers need be careful. They plant long-standing “pack rate” memories!.
I don’t envy you this task; I did the same last year, and it’s not easy.
Do we have any say in what memories will return to us, when faced with a well that has gone untapped for so long? The hardest part would be sorting through them, to know which to keep.
I love the sibilance in the title, Björn, and that you have given us a glimpse of spring. You’ve captured this particular memory of your childhood, appealing beautifully to the senses by contrasting ‘thorny scent’ and ‘warmth of sun / while walking barefoot late in May’ with ‘dark decay and mildew / reeking from the dusty corners’.
scent sense is powerful, feel the complexity of these memories ..
I like the analogy of spring/childhood/blossom with the “the dark decay and mildew
reeking from the dusty corners” of your sloe berry memorabilia
Those interiors are hard to clear out. (K)
The images here are really vivid. I love the smell of the room and your moms pack rat memories she left!
The old memory and the new reality about what happens in a life. Evocative, poignant. Thank you.
Lovely Björn, I particularly like the closing ‘I sort through the pack-rat memories mother left for me.’ yet you write the poem, not as the end, but as a beginning.
:”the dark decay and mildew” ….brings the whole poem into focus, poignant poem, Bjorn>
Dark decay and mildew. Yes, I agree. It’s what I focused on most in this poem.
Really liked this 😀