Busywork & other poems | Eva Daines McFadden

Busywork

Take a little longer

Reveal a pending list

Worthy of a small queue

Move as slowly as possible

Don’t apologise for it, please

When everything comes out with ease

Our work will feel more tolerable

Repetition less annoying, too

We’ll return, slightly missed

Our focus a little stronger

---

Statue Lady / Desperate Message

Oh, hello dear child!

Isn’t it bitter out here?

It was only meant to be mild

You are quite lucky to live so near

Forgive me my rudeness, for I must ask

Why must you stand so still outside?

It is too cold, even with my heavier tasks

You must say your secret, how not to mind

Me and my bones, they would love to know

This coat, it really is just for show

please, do go on home

It does no good to be so cold alone

My child, listen to an older stranger

Go, bask in the warmth inside

Still, you do not move. Is there danger?

I mean, is home what you wish to leave behind?

Love, may I take your hand?

Someone at the temple could assist

You’ll be safer there, without the command

of this horrible wind and persisting mists

I’m going to pick you up, unless

You talk or walk or even shake your head

Why, you do not budge! Be you stuck in the mud, some other mess?

Forgive me, I have to carry you in the end

Cursed curses, how are you so cold?

Solid to the touch, may as well be exposed bones

You will not talk. You will not shift. Be you a mould?

Tinkling to touch! My mind is lost, I’m talking to stone!

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It Has Been A Very Long Day For The Narrator And They Should Really Drink Some Tea And Eat Some Chocolate Or Something Potato-Based

Maybe there’s a hint at the start

That tends to crop up in art

Oh for goodness sake I’m rhyming

It’s forbidden to shift the timing

So it’s impossible to skip to the end

Really this openness is my friend

I must know if she’s ever free

It’s important to me

---

This is Eva Daines McFadden, a strange person C found in a lecture when they realised they were both lost.

Hobbies include: starting but never finishing crochet projects (STILL owes C a hat), attempting to knit, reading and writing.

Does not have a blog, or a writing account on any social media – this experience will speed up that process at some point… if they remember.