“Honey I’m sorry I keep saying Hurry–”
We stop at the dry cleaners and the grocery store
and the gas station and the green market and
Hurry up honey, I say, hurry,
as she runs along two or three steps behind me
her blue jacket unzipped and her socks rolled down.
Where do I want her to hurry to? To her grave?
To mine? Where one day she might stand all grown?
Today, when all the errands are finally done, I say to her,
Honey I’m sorry I keep saying Hurry—
you walk ahead of me. You be the mother.
And, Hurry up, she says, over her shoulder, looking
back at me, laughing. Hurry up now darling, she says,
hurry, hurry, taking the house keys from my hands.
Poetry Ptuesday: Hurry by Marie Howe
Reminds me of the Cyndi Lauper song “time after time”
“…Suitcases of memories
Time after
Sometimes you picture me
I’m walking too far ahead
You’re calling to me, I can’t hear
What you’ve said
Then you say, go slow
I fall behind
The second hand unwinds
If you’re lost you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you, I will be waiting
Time after time
After my picture fades and darkness has
Turned to gray
Watching through windows
You’re wondering if I’m okay
Secrets stolen from deep inside
The drum beats out of time
If you’re lost you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you, I will be waiting
Time after time
You said go slow
I fall behind
The second hand unwinds
If you’re lost you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you, I’ll be waiting
Time after time
If you’re lost you can look and you will find me”
Cyndi reminds me of Walt. But then so does everything. I find Walt endlessly charming.
It does seem like a comment regret (uh oh, I used the R word) between people who share an intimate relationship is just simple timelines not matching up, or the perception of time not matching up… I’m having a hard time describing this correctly. I mean we’re often frustrated because other people we’re close to are too fast or too slow compared to ourselves.
Without reading the lyrics, I never would have thought of this song with the poem. But “I’m walking too far ahead/You’re calling to me, I can’t hear/What you’ve said/Then you say go slow/I fall behind/The second hand unwind”, well, that’s bang on!
Cyndi and Walt, hmm, I buy what you’re selling. Both pretty upbeat and reliably familiar/warm, but maybe with a tinge of something darker/more chaotic at work. At the very least, both institutional Americana at this point 😉