A resolution – Janet Frame

Focus on Frame!


A resolution – Janet Frame

People, heated to the brittle stage,
when dropped in cold water, crack.
I’ll smile no more.
Milk, laundry, dust bin.
Sweet people, sweet smiling.
There’s no time for this leisurely meal of late afternoon.
Milk, laundry, dustbin.
Yes, yes thank you, I’ll smile no more.
I came here to write stories and poems,
not to cook peanut candy.
Darkness comes, with the sun gone down
over milk, laundry, dustbin.

I’ll smile no more.
I came here to write.
Grim, absorbed, sane
I’ll stir the syllables
in the provided saucepan;

I’ll sleep on the innerspring mattress,
I’ll turn the key,
pay the rent,
spread protective newspaper,
sweep with the carpet sweeper,
but smiling no more I’ll frown, frown,
(milk, laundry, dust bin)
as I write my stories down down
to their seabed in caves of stone.




I found these poems in an old poetry anthology from school. Unfortunately there isn't a reference for where they originally came from.