Day 13: NaPoWriMo 2021

Just Like Yesterday

Thirty 
nearly forty years now 
although 
     odd thing, time, 
it seems like yesterday 

we arrived here 
from a place where   
it was always warm 
and sunlight 
was fluid as olive oil. 

We lived in the midst 
of an old orchard.

Lemons grew 
in the garden. 
Thin-skinned oranges. 
Two olive trees. 
An avocado tree  
tall as our house.

Our flight
touched down in December.

It started snowing 
the next day. It didn't 
stop for six days.

We arrived here  
before avocados arrived, 
and you bought 
olive oil from a chemist 
in a tiny bottle,
     if you were lucky. 

Nearly forty years 
is a long time. 
Odd thing, time,  
it seems like yesterday.

Written for Miz Quickly’s Day 13 “Sequel“. This isn’t quite a sequel, more like inspired by a poem called Coconut by Margaret Atwood. PA’s Day 13 prompt is “Luck“. Shared with #APoemADay on Twitter   © Misky 2021

12 responses to “Day 13: NaPoWriMo 2021”

  1. I’ll tell you who’s lucky, Misky: anyone who reads this fine work. I esp like the landscape’s time-capture. Beautiful.
    I lived beside an orchard once, ages ago, and it had its positives but, sadly, just beyond the trees there was a church that started ringing its damned bell every hour on the hour, all day, every day, starting at 6AM on Sundays. So much for trying to sleep off the Saturday night orgies.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you! Our local church bells go into a frenzy on Sundays, but otherwise they’re reserved for special occasions like weddings or funerals, Christmas, Easter, etc.

      Like

  2. No olive oil. Really? That’s probably true here, too. The things you forget.
    It wasn’t edenic, but I moved from a world beginning to explode with excellent restaurants, fresh-roasted coffee, made on location ice creams in ridiculous flavors. The bakery a few blocks over had what they called the One To Go— a slab of frittata/breakfast casserole on a light cheddar scone. I weep.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Truly. Olive oil came in a 150ml brown bottle, which I think is about 5oz, and was used like castor oil. And then suddenly, a woman called Delia Smith (a TV chef) introduced olive oil on telly for salad dressings. All the supermarkets struggled to stock it on their shelves because Delia was using it. For years, she put out cookery books using new ingredients, and supermarkets introduced them to shoppers as the next best thing. And Parmesan cheese (in blocks rather than the foot-odour grated stuff). And no more ketchup on spaghetti noodles – we had real pasta sauce. Times have really changed.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. I love the way you describe the fluctuation of time here.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Very atmospheric. And I love the use of olive oil as a descriptor and a time indicator. My parents grow olives so we get a lot of olive oil from them. It’s very poetic stuff. I love it in your poem.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you so much. I never tasted Australian olive oil. Now that we have a trade deal with Australia, perhaps we’ll see it on our grocery shelves. Having said that, supply issues are keeping our shelves fairly sparse.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Love the time theme running through this, Misk!

    Like

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