Fourteen Hours of Corn - pipTalk Forums

How to Join	Member's Area	Private Library	Search	Sanctuary		Login
Main Forums	Discussion	Tech Talk	Mature Content	Archives	A home without a wall, Our haven without ends, A circle we all call Our Family of Friends!

Corinne
Member Ascendant

since 1999-10-28

Posts 5167
state of confusion

0 posted 2001-09-15 11:35 AM

Fourteen Hours of Corn

She was never happy with urban life,
but waited (until the skies were falling
and impressions of widow's weeds
lay staining her feet) to uproot,
a decision seeded in years of dreams
that suddenly ripened over night.

She watched a withered city
from her tiny window that morning;
picked only her oldest clothes
and headed out in a rainstorm,
a leaf floating in gutter streams.

She had never before seen corn,
nor imagined its lush heights
of promise;
she garnered all her desires
into a bouquet of yellow,
yellow like these rows of maize
and sunflowers,
after fourteen hours,
she set down on new ground.

© 2001 Corinne Bailey
All Rights Reserved

Mysteria

Member Laureate

since 2001-03-07

Posts 18328
British Columbia, Canada

1 posted 2001-09-16 12:15 PM

I really enjoyed this, and your visuals were great! I felt I was walking with her.

~*Be Kind To Your Fellow Man, Lend Him A Helping Hand, Put A Little Love In Your Heart*~

Topheth
Member

since 2001-09-08

Posts 297
Texas

2 posted 2001-09-16 12:20 PM

So much nicely visualized with minimum words.

Masked Intruder

Moderator

Senior Member

since 1999-05-23

Posts 1231
Near golden sunsets

3 posted 2001-09-16 12:24 PM

Corinne, dear, you've accomplished another amazing feat.

Now I'm not sure if you intended interpretation along the lines of Tuesday's Terror, but I caught a firm hold of that interpretation and flew with it.  All the signs point that way, and I like signs.

The metaphor/analogy of the 'leaf floating in gutter streams' is superb, absolutely! It creates an intensely forlorn picture in my mind.  I am also perfectly pleased with your inclusion of sunflowers and corn, me being Kansan and all, but I'm wondering where the fourteen hours plays in? What is that particular time's significance?  I'm so lost on that subject, but otherwise kudos on a great write!

You can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep. -- Navajo Proverb

Corinne
Member Ascendant

since 1999-10-28

Posts 5167
state of confusion

4 posted 2001-09-16 01:27 PM

Thank you very much, Mysteria!

Topheth, thank you!

Dear Masked Intruder, you warmed my heart with your interpretations! Yes, it is about leaving NY City after the attack, and thank you for the comment about "a leaf floating in gutter streams," I almost edited that out, thinking it might sound kind of trite.

The fourteen hours represents the # of hours she drives from NY to her new found home. The idea itself came from a group of people I work with - they were in Chicago on the morning of Sept 11th, and immediately knew they would have difficulty getting out of there, so they took a taxi out of town, got a rental car and drove back to California; took them until Thursday night to get back. One of the guys described it as fourteen hours of corn, and I thought it would make a great poem title...

Thanks again for your comments! Corinne

Sven

Member Laureate

since 1999-11-23

Posts 14937
East Lansing, MI USA

5 posted 2001-09-16 02:29 PM

great job Corinne. . . truly inspired. . .

-------------------------------------------------------

To the world, you may only be one person. But to one person, you may be the world.

Masked Intruder

Moderator

Senior Member

since 1999-05-23

Posts 1231
Near golden sunsets

6 posted 2001-09-16 03:27 PM

LOL Okay, then here's the only problem I see with your write. From Chicago to California, there probably would be fourteen hours of corn; but I'm not so sure about from New York to somewhere! *Grins* just kiddin with ya! Makes beautiful sense.

Seymour Tabin
Member Empyrean

since 1999-07-07

Posts 31720
Tamarac Fla

7 posted 2001-09-16 03:32 PM

Corinne,
Every day in every way you get better and better. Enjoyed

cruz
Member

since 2000-07-18

Posts 282
Dallas,Texas USA

8 posted 2001-09-16 05:06 PM

very clever. I especially liked the following creativity:

"...yellow like these rows of maize..."

well done.

Irish Rose
Member Patricius

since 2000-04-06

Posts 10263

9 posted 2001-09-16 05:11 PM

Corinne, ....thank you for a moving poem

Kathleen

"Others can stop you temporarily, but only you can do it permanently."

Irish Rose
Member Patricius

since 2000-04-06

Posts 10263

10 posted 2001-09-16 05:11 PM

Corinne, ....thank you for a moving poem

Corinne
Member Ascendant

since 1999-10-28

Posts 5167
state of confusion

11 posted 2001-09-16 10:43 PM

Thank you all for commenting!

Masked, - yeah, I know! Someone else pointed out the logic to me, but heck, I just liked the phrase so much that I tossed logic to the wind!

Cor

	⇧ top of page ⇧
All times are ET (US). All dates are in Year-Month-Day format.