Sunday, March 30, 2008
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What Pools at the Bottom of Clay Pots
Currently Reading
Dance Dance Dance
By Haruki Murakami
see related
She made pots of black tea and left them sitting. Days later, just before the mold she would come back and drink it all, cold and stale. She said she drank it old because the taste reminded her of the way the earth felt under her bare feet. Smiling, she would pour a cup for me. I only tried it once, but the taste of time had left an imprint, and after that I sat and stared into the murk, waiting for something new to rise from the bottom.
Out in the yard, the air turning cold with autumn, I would concentrate on the sea and think about a time that came before all of this. I needed something to help me remember. Sights, smells, sounds, it all sunk to the bottom, sticking in the silt. Memories like stones, pebbles, tiny grains of sand. Memories swept under the couch, forgotten at the bottom of an old pair of sneakers which were worn by time and salt water.Things I'd forgotten would sometimes resurface in the corners of my mind, playing at the edges, almost in sight, but diving far beneath the surface the second I turned my head. Like shoals of silver fish they glinted in the light of my almost understanding, and then, gone.
My eyes got tired of it.
It was just too hard. And so I forgot, but I never meant to. I think, maybe giving up was just more make-believe than anything. Nothing was ever very solid, nothing, except the two of us.
I think she drank that tea for more than just the taste of earth. She drank because she knew that she too, could lose everything in just a moment. I should have had more of that tea- I should have spent more time with that smile, those feet whose soles were brown from damp soil.
For a while, I think she meant to help me.
Maybe she could, once. I can't remember. When she left, it all fell away from me. Over the cliffs and onto the rocks below, that was all it took.
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Comments (23)
i JUST beat Rock Band on medium on drums
at first i thought Green Grass And High Tides was teh hardest song
pshaw no
its Enter Sandman for me
the kick pedal kills me on that song
mmmmm tea
I LOVE this!
The metaphor with the tea.... felt really deep to me. I dont know HOW you came up with it... but it feels rich.
By the end of it I felt like I knew these people, or maybe one of them was me. I felt I could relate with something strong and desperate there.
I really dig this piece!
what a passage!! great :)
haha thank you =D
My goodness. I'm speechless. This was extremely beautiful... I felt like I was so in touch with every emotion described while I was reading it. It really affected me... You describe things in such a vivid manner, it's just beautiful!
Ah, and Amos is from Israel, where I am.
It is hard to live with such a vague and watery existence.
have you noticed that black tea isn't really black? not unless you add tons and tons of tea leaves. but most breakfast teas come out this translucent dark orange like in your picture. drinking tea to taste the earth, never thought of it like that, but it's true :)
and oh, i did look for those books you mentioned. the local b&n didn't have ANY of the ones mentioned, though it did have other works from the authors you listed. bah. i try not to buy anything before getting my grimy hands on it first, that's why i don't really like to order books online. but i did end up getting Marquez's Cholera. finished it and found it quite good! i'll get to 100 Years sometime soon. it's a shame he's not a native English writer. he would've done the language quite the honor. i will eventually get to the other writers, once i can get a copy of them in my hands. noted down Gorey and Holt too, thanks! :) they seem to be as goofy as Edward Lear, if you're into limericks and other silly verses
@Legi0nnaire - Heh awesome,
i've read this a couple of times. and each time, i scroll down here to the bottom and look at the comment box, but i'm never sure what to say. i wanted the thoughtful, well-worded comment, but i can't find it right now, so i'll just setlle for letting you know that i really, really like it.
@Legi0nnaire - I am aware of the fact that the Dark Tower series is considered one of Steven King's masterpieces.
Normally I wouldn't balk at seven books... but now I'm in colllege... ::shudder:: Actually, we have them all where I work, (a used book store) I will have to try them out one of these days.
The thing about Steven King is that I really can appreciate him for what he is, and I do enjoy some of his movie adaptations (like Dreamcatcher, but let's keep that between you and me,) however, on the whole his writing style just isn't for me.
~D
I feel it worth mentioning also that I have read most of his books. I wouldn't ever say I didn't like an author's work without reading a majority of what they've put out.
(unless they are, say, Nora Roberts or Nicholas Sparks.)
I liked Dreamcatcher too . . .
Personally, I haven't read a lot of King. I've read a collection of short stories and I believe something called The Talisman, which was a co-authored work. You can shoot me if I got the title wrong.
@Legi0nnaire - Heh, I couldn't tell you... I liked "Through The Dragon's Eyes..." have you read that? I also liked Rose Red.
And I might not respond right away, I would just like to announce that Rockband added: 'Still Alive' the ending to Portal.
Which is AWESOME.
(definitely You-Tube that if you haven't heard it.)
you've got it. so good.
You've lost me . . . are you a hXc Rock Band player?
@Legi0nnaire - I don't even know what that means?
i know the feeling exactly. this whole grad school entrance exam thing is kind of overwhelming.
@atsixesandsevens - ugh. I know, I'm not there yet, but I'm dreading it. I have a math test in the morning and that's killing me.
Hard.Core. It's probably some "Scene" term . . .