For dVersePoets This prompt reminded me of my wedding day, when I went to my grandparent’s house to get ready. The reference to pearls is in relevance to the meaning of my name. “The Pink Room” is literally the name of the room I always slept in their house growing to when I came to visit.
Faded dated paper
Torn away from
Walls that framed
Decades of – Okay
Just ONE more
Short Bed-time story
Painted a darker
shade of pink
That bed – I think –
Now a size larger
Soft light glows
through sheer –
White lace on that
Same old bookcase
I struggle as always
To crack open
The Large window
To look outside as
Time brakes &
Locks • • •
My arms crossed
Across my heart
Tugging at pearls
I back away slowly
My hand can now
reach the High up –
White light switch
As I turn the same
Crystal doorknob
Before me and
I pause before
The long winding
cherry staircase –
Careful steady steps
In high white heels
A small-smile-breaks
I can see them waiting
What was once just
Their ‘little pearl’ –
Is wearing them today.
Gretchen Leary 2013
Gretchen Leary (McIntire) 
Oh my goodness, Gretchen – I so love this. “My hand can now reach the High up -White light switch’ such a tender memory in such a sweet poem. K
Thank-you 🙂
Gretchen, this is so well done. I am right there with you in this PLACE you describe so well. And I am asking for that bedtime story – one more story, please. And all the description, wonderful visuals. Really a strong PLACE poem!
Thank-you Mary 🙂
smiles. lovely…esprcially considering that i am in my house i grew up in tonight…it all is so smaller than it was when we were young…but i can tell you where things were and what color…some of my things are still in the closet of my old room….and we are caught between adulthood and wanting a little sip of that childhood again…
It is weirder how everything gets smaller as we get older. I went to visit that room today and got inspired as this is one of my favorite “places” in the entire world
You paint a lovely picture.
Thank-you, it’s hard to write happy poetry for me. I’m working on those skills. I tend to write bitter- better 🙂
Such a very sweet poem. k.
Not just a poem, but a whole story of childhood. Lovely
Truly it is. That room holds more of my favorite memories than any other room 🙂
Beautifully done!
Thank-you!
this is lovely…made me think of the times i went back to my grandma’s house as a grown up..everything seems different and yet so familiar…smiling at the pearls..my second name is margarethe..so….smiles
Ah! 🙂 I did not like my name most of my life but it is growing on me a little. It’s a harsh sounding name like Blanche or Gertrude (IMO) but it isn’t too common in my age group, and it does make me unique. Well, at least here in the US it does haha.
It’s so funny how my grandparents have names for each room. There is The Blue Room (which is now tan), The Yellow Room (which is now blue), The Cold Room (which is still cold but more insulated so a little warmer than before), but The Pink Room, has still remained just that. Pink 🙂
a beautiful journey =)
I adore nostalgia filled poetry and this is the perfect place in time from which to draw inspiration, lovely 🙂
You took me right there with you ~ I specially like the ending, walking down as if you are “pearls” in their eyes ~ Happy Sunday ~
My grandparents were the only parents I had with me at my wedding. My mother and father did not go. But to have my grandparents there was more than enough in the end. 🙂
This was great, Gretchen. It’s as if I was there with you. And I agree, there’s a lot to be admired by the way you strung together those last few lines. 🙂
Aw thank-you. I was getting teary-eyed at the end while writing it. I wasn’t even sure where I was going with it at first. At first it was just about the room and then my wedding day came to mind and I rewrote a lot of it. Thank-you for taking the time to read it and comment!
I just knew I’d love this by the title– and then when I read that it was a room in your grandmother’s house– well, I thought “Now THAT will make a great ‘places’ poem!” And a great poem it is 🙂 ~peace, Jason
It truly is one of my favorite places in the entire world. Thank-you.
Gretchen, you are so lucky to have your grandparents’ place. Every image of this was affirming and delicate as the pearls. Really loved it. You should tack this to a wall in your office!! Love, Amy
Hey maybe I will put this in my cubicle. What an awesome idea!
a lovely and delicate write. beautiful capture of memory.
A great sense of of place here with just the right amount of detail and there is a cadence as in the Cohen poetry/music..nice;)