Thursday, July 17, 2014

There's No Good Time

Touch down, drive
Drag suitcases in
Release dog
And
Gasp
At water waddling down the hall
It impregnated the baseboards
Partied under the floors
Splashed in a self made kiddie pool (utility room)
Too few towels to take him down
So the jaws of unknown damage
Gape and snap in your dreams
That spill into a morning
Nightmare
Baseboards ripped
Drywall slaughtered
Then the incessant drone 
Hulking, loud fan warriors
Blowing death and dryness
At the liquid 
Laughing
In the walls

This is offered up for the very timely prompt by Gabriella, at Poetry Jam poetryjaam.blogspot.com, to write about the unexpected.  Came home 11:30 Wednesday night after a nine day trip to find the water heater had rusted out and flooded the house.  Fortunately, only the hall and bedrooms.  And with all the kids being gone, very little furniture damage. Feeling lucky actually.  Hope everyone else had happier surprises. :-) 

17 comments:

  1. This is such a fun capture of what had to have been a distressing "unexpected" episode. You have a wonderful attitude - and a real talent for humorous verse. Loved it!

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    1. Hi Wendy! It was very distressing, especially when we found out that the water had absorbed into many more walls than we anticipated and the drywall was ripped out. This poem actually helped me see it a bit more humorously. Thank you :-)

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  2. Well, I agree you have a wonderful attitude, Sara. I am glad there was not a lot of damage. I know it could have been much more awful to come home to such an UNEXPECTED mess.

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    1. Hi Mary! It's only after having a few days to get used to the chaos ;-) Thank you for the kind wishes :-)

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  3. oh no....now you have me worried considering i leave sunday on vacation...ha...better make sure things are running well first...at least you seem to be taking it in stride...oy...not a fun unexpected...

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    1. Hi Brian! No worries, just turn off the water before you go and everything will be fine :-)

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  4. I love your positive attitude, Sara! I am not sure I would have taken it so well. I am glad the damage was not too bad.

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    1. Hi Gabriella! It helped my attitude to write this poem, thank you for the perfect prompt :-)

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  5. Dramatic words describing a surprise that spilled into a morning nightmare (love that image!). And yet, rather than ride the doom and gloom trail, you present the experience as an adventure on the detour road. Fascinating.

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    1. Hi Gemma! Thank you for noticing my word choices. I was trying to convey some of the drama without being too morose. It's now been over a week and we are still dealing with some of the issues. Bidding out repairs next week!

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  6. in 1995 my ground floor rooms turned into swimming pool because of a flood and had some tough time after the water receded ..ugh...but we all love pleasant surprises and I like your positive attitude here Sara...

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    1. Hi Sumana! Oh my goodness--What a nightmare!! Seems that we have a lot of common experiences-at very different times, still its an interesting coincidence. Thank you for sharing your stories :-)

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  7. Ouch! Just as well the damage was limited and you were able to view it calmly like that. The unexpected is not always pleasant, is it?

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    1. Hi Nicholas! Definitely, the unexpected can be a real kick in the head. Fortunately, we are now on the road to recovery. I was about to lose my mind if I had to listen to those huge drying fans much longer...

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  8. Very original take on the prompt, Sara! I love the way you turned an unpleasant situation into a funny one. I hope you've already had it fixed! And also hope not to find something similar to this when I come back home on Saturday after my holidays! Nice one, it made me smile.

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    2. Hi M! Thank you very much. I love to have my readers smile--and I hope that you had a lovely holiday :-)

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Your words are wonderful! Thanks for popping in--I'll be over in a snap!