To My Black Sunflower Dress A poem

IMOGENE’S NOTEBOOK

To My Black Sunflower Dress

A poem

Natalie Gasper

Imogene’s Notebook

Natalie Gasper

Published in

Imogene’s Notebook

A ballerina in a white tutu, dancing in a field of sunflowers.

Photo by chiến bá

She threw you out before she knew

you, before she saw the picture of us

at my eighth-grade graduation, the first

time I was brave enough to wear heels

and walk down an aisle of my peers

to accept an award. She doesn’t remember

the late summer day when we went out

to dinner and a movie with friends, including

my first crush who told me I looked beautiful.

All she remembers is the day my breasts

grew bigger and my thighs got longer

and my once-slender body no longer fit

inside your petite frame. I must have been

quite a sight to the Vietnam Vets, or maybe

it was the Salvation Army, as I tore through

every trash bag on our porch trying to find

you, to rescue you as you once rescued me,

my black sunflower dress, the first dress

I ever loved. We never got to say goodbye,

so give a little of your magic and your luck

to the next girl who wears you.

Natalie Gasper

Imogene’s Notebook

Written by Natalie Gasper

Editor for

Imogene’s Notebook

Writer I Poet I Reader I Daydreamer I My poetry is in dozens of journals. When I’m not writing books, I’m writing about writing. Twitter @NatalieGasper

Comments

THE LEARNING HUB: When you wake up in the morning...

When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they can't tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own - not of the same blood and birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are unnatural. ~Marcus Aurelius Book: Meditations https://amzn.to/3qjadxq (Art: Painting by Maximilien Luce)

GatesNotes GatesNotes The Clean Industrial Revolution is in London at the BE Summit

GatesNotes GatesNotes The Clean Industrial Revolution is in London at the BE Summit A composite of climate-related imagery including industrial pipes, solar panels, a tractor in a field, steam from manufacturing, farmers harvesting crops, a crane on a construction site, windmills, a man holding a tablet in a field, and construction workers preparing rebar for concrete. By Bill Gates | June 25, 2024 The problems caused by climate change are often in the headlines. It’s less often that we hear about the progress being made in the fight against it. But through my investments and work with Breakthrough Energy, I’m lucky to have insight into a lot of the most exciting innovations—and the companies bringing them to life. At this year’s Breakthrough Energy Summit in London, over 100 of them have gathered to share the solutions they’ve been working on that are ready to get to work and tackle climate change today. They include: Window glass so energy efficient that it performs like a see-throug...

THE LEARNING HUB: How Can I change my life completely and make it interesting

1 Talk to people not to improve but to observe and understand. 2 Dedicate at least half an hour to exercise, half an hour to hobby, half an hour for self-improvement each day. 3 Spend at least one hour of early morning time in acquiring knowledge or walking and enjoying the smooth winds outside. 4 Write a schedule for each day, make a checklist of all important activities, make sure you check most of them before falling asleep. 15 minutes: Introspect your day and identify scope of improvement. Next 15 minutes: Be thankful for whatever went right in the day and express gratitude for whatever you have till date. (Schedule for last half an hour before sleeping.) 5 Be joyful about challenges and issues in life, feel excited to test your strengths and to come out of them like a warrior. Be happy and fearless. Commit to face and fight. 6 Seek inspiration from every person you see, every person does some inspiring things in their life, however, all we do is to feel envious of them, instead ap...

Princewill Daokorite

Search This Blog