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“The sole cause of man’s unhappiness
is that he does not know how to stay
quietly in his room.” – Blaise Pascal.

Thinking tonight of the sadness
of rooms. Hospital rooms, bed-
rooms, dorm rooms, motel rooms.
Rooms where the love has died
and gone away or has yet to
arrive. Rooms which once meant
something to their occupents.
Strip away the blankets, strip away
the sheets. Peel the paint from
the walls, take down the photos,
unpaint the paintings. Listen
carefully and you can hear echoing
still the voices of the ghosts
that used to live here. Men and
women, children too, in sickness
and in health. One way
or another, most things begin
and end in a room. Coming
and going, always. Kerouac
used to say heartfelt goodbyes
to every room he left. He knew.
The sadness of rooms, the sadness
of the things that once were and
will never be again. It will break
you one day, if it hasn’t already.

Dear Hero in the Seaweed ~

For me, this reads just perfectly. Not a word too many or too few or in the wrong place. Perhaps, poetry experts might see it otherwise; but, for me, not one, it pulled me from one line and image to the next, and I felt every one. As I read I was imagining those situations that took hold outside rather than in a room, as there surely are some. Then, I love how you at just that point summoned Kerouac, famous for living for a time on the road, and his own saying heartfelt goodbye's to the rooms even he occupied. This took my mind to many, personal scenarios in my life and the beauty of it is that I believe it will do that very same thing for every other reader. Haven't we all wished that the walls could simply 'talk'? This says that, too, without saying it... with yours, we have the capability of hearing the echoing. I also really liked what you did with stripping the bed bare and then the rest of the room, as well.

Well... quite simply. I really love this poem. A perfect response to Pascal, as well. If those rooms had remained pristine, as his quote evokes, we may have been more motivated to stay in them.



~ Lizzy