What was your "blanky"?

[WindChyme]

echoes_s has a poem called "Eiderdown" which really got me thinking about the childhood "blanky" that I remember most. It happened to be a lilac colored satin comforter that belonged to my grandmother. That cover actually had a lasting impact on me, and I noticed from the feedback echoes_s got that a bunch of people seemed emotionally touched by thoughts of blankets and comforters they have known. Anybody else have a blanket memory that brings out the poet in you?

 

[Guest]

okay, I admitt. I have a blanky... My grandmére crocheted a blue blanket for me when I was 12, and I still have it. It's been with me in LSU, the navy and now here in Seattle.

I suppose I'll keep it until it rots away.


- neo

 

[Maria2394]

simple white, cotton weave with
coffee stain at one frayed end
but it was warm and filled
with memories of a week I spent
with my mom

duke university, transplant team
determined that she was too weak
and her bones too soft
to handle stress of a heart-lung transplant surgery

we stayed at the hospital almost a week
her body poked full of holes
for necessary tests
and I slept in an old green chair
beneath the TV and near a concrete wall
that smelled faintly of urine and impending death

one night, a nurse, his name was Chase
sexy and way too young for me
came into the room and smiled

You look cold, can I warm you?
I brought you a heated blanket...
I'll be at the front desk
if you ever want to talk..

I took him up on his offer late
that Friday night...
mom never got her transplant
but I still have that blanket
and memories of a week I spent
with my mother, now gone,
and a guy who made me smile
and who still keeps me warm
from many miles and years away

 

[WindChyme]

simple white, cotton weave with
coffee stain at one frayed end
but it was warm and filled
with memories of a week I spent
with my mom

duke university, transplant team
determined that she was too weak
and her bones too soft
to handle stress of a heart-lung transplant surgery

we stayed at the hospital almost a week
her body poked full of holes
for necessary tests
and I slept in an old green chair
beneath the TV and near a concrete wall
that smelled faintly of urine and impending death

one night, a nurse, his name was Chase
sexy and way too young for me
came into the room and smiled

You look cold, can I warm you?
I brought you a heated blanket...
I'll be at the front desk
if you ever want to talk..

I took him up on his offer late
that Friday night...
mom never got her transplant
but I still have that blanket
and memories of a week I spent
with my mother, now gone,
and a guy who made me smile
and who still keeps me warm
from many miles and years away

The tiny kindnesses that people do for us are so long remembered, aren't they? I'm glad that something warm and kind and which speaks of the goodness of life is a part of your memory of this time considering the terrible loss for you.

 

[SeattleRain]

oral fixation

I never had a blanky

guess I did not need one, as I always had my thumb
with me always
for mouth and cheek and suck


my thumb
left thumb
always clean


mother and dad bought me a huge
stuffed frog
as a reward
stop the suck
before kindergarden


took the frog
kept the thumb
trying to keep the suck silent
under covers
hidden from sisters and sneaking parents

throwing coins from the balcony for penance

(of course I picked them up later
as I did not really mean it)


my thumb
replaced by cigarettes
sugar free popcicles
and other variety of pseudothumb
sucking devices
over the years

but left still tastes best

 

[Liar]

it has no name
no word
no more

never had
never was
supposed to

it has no shape
no space
no stitch hem size
no more

and no,
never had

it has no light
no texture, hue
no sense against
a sleepy cheek

and niether did

no sensory
worth a testament

so really
no,
it was not substance
but as a sense
of wrong when absent
right when present
clutched
in a growing hand

until it slipped
through tree trunk
fingers
finally

and inside
to a corner of me
where my hands
are still small enough
to clutch that smell
and hold against
my inner cheek

to make it all
better

 

[BooMerengue]

The bones in Daddy's shirt collar
rubbed in the little place above my lip
where supposedly some angel or another
kissed me good bye. For now.

The shirt got dirty so Mom
cut the shoulders off for me.
Still I rubbed.

The shoulders got too frayed.
I woke up with just the collar.

And then I lost it...

Now I have a whole shirt again.
Collar bone and Old Spice.
I keep it in a ziploc bag.
Ha! Daddy's in the bag!

 

[Guest]

Re: oral fixation

I never had a blanky

guess I did not need one, as I always had my thumb
with me always
for mouth and cheek and suck


my thumb
left thumb
always clean

Cute...