Monday, April 26, 2010

An Elegant Cane - Magpie Tale #11 - Tuesday, April 27, 2010



The Elegant Cane

Granny smelled of lavender,
And always dressed in lace,
She wore the reddest lipstick,
Clown circles graced her face.

She held her back ramrod straight,
And always seemed so nice,
But her silver topped ebony cane,
Was a torturing device.

When I was just a toddler,
I soon learned to beware,
The cane extended Grandma's reach,
To almost everywhere.

At first, she was more gentle,
Just tapping when I'd sin,
Touching precious heirlooms,
Making her treasures spin.

Many times, I would recall,
Howling out in pain,
She would pin my wayward foot,
"Don't make that mistake again!"

Whenever we would visit,
I thought I did my best,
To be a model grandson,
Grandma was not impressed!

For any small infraction,
Out would come the cane,
"Spare the rod, spoil the child,"
Echoed the refrain.

She finally stopped the beatings,
When I broke the cane in two,
Until that day came to pass,
My parents never knew.

Carmen Henesy

Copyright (c) 2010 by Carmen Henesy
All rights reserved

I am participating in Wilow's Magpie Tales, a wonderful creative writing meme.  Come  join us!


39 comments:

  1. Fantastic, what a cruel old woman and poor you!
    This just raced along... this made you think she was going to be a kindly Gran....
    'Granny smelled of lavender,
    And always dressed in lace,'
    And she wasn't at all, clever indeed.

    Christine

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  2. Wow, that is so not where I expected that to go.

    Very well written Carmen. I hope it was fiction.

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  3. whew. and i bet it gave her quite the shock when you did but she needed that. nicely written.

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  4. LOL. I think she meant only good for you. Go buy her new cane. :D

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  5. I've always hated clowns. Glad you took matters into you own hands.

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  6. Granny was just a blue meany! Glad for the courage to break up her power..yikes!!

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  7. I agree with Brian - nicely written.

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  8. haha! I loved this line among many others, "Clown circles graced her face." I can just see her rouged cheeks.

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  9. This was thoroughly wonderful ... clever and unique!

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  10. Anonymous10:53 AM

    What a great job of painting a portrait with words. Thanks for stopping by my neck of the woods for Magpie Tales.
    QMM

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  11. "When I was just a toddler,
    I soon learned to beware,
    The cane extended Grandma's reach,
    To almost everywhere"

    --- I am sorry, this seems to be horrifying experience, but then, I am so glad for the will power of the grandson in this character to break the cane in two. Bravo!

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  12. I hope it was not true.... it made an interesting poem ,, and I was rooting for the little one -- wanted to break it in two myself. I abhor cruelty and abuse. Shame the child did not trust the parents though, or would they agree with the Grandmother? A makings of another poem

    Good use of the prompt.
    Joanny

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  13. I couldn't have guessed where this was headed. Excellent poem!

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  14. Carmen, this was great fun, because Granny was a caricature of a bad-tempered old biddy. I felt vindicated at the end. Hooray for her grandson.

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  15. http://jingleyanqiu.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/magpie-tale-the-magical-wish/

    mine is up,
    thank you for the feedback!

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  16. you have wild imaginations,
    awesome tale!

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  17. Great poem Carmen, but granny was mean..

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  18. Carmen this is terrific - great meter and rhyme, great story and satisfying in the end. Loved it.

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  19. I love the poem.

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  20. simply delightful!!

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  21. Christine - thankfully, this poem was just fiction - though I suspect there are many such grandmothers out there!

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  22. Robin - yes, my magpie was fiction. Glad it turned out to surprise you!

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  23. Brian Miller - this magpie wasn't about me, just a figment of my imagination. I never knew either of my grandmothers - they died before my debut - but I would hate to think they were like this. In my 21 years as a forensic nurse, I heard so many sad stories of horrible grandparents and parents, though!

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  24. Blue Mist - glad I didn't have a grandmother like that. I'm afraid, as I got older, I would have taken the cane to her!

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  25. willow - this magpie wasn't about me but allowed me to vent against some of the horrors, in my work, that I heard, against children.

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  26. Lyn - this wasn't reality. Sadly, too often, children cannot fight back again their abusers.

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  27. Catalyst - I'm glad you liked my magpie tale. Thanks for stopping by!

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  28. steviewren - I am determined not to be one of those old lady clowns with the red circles on her cheeks!

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  29. Helen - glad you liked my magpie tale with the evil grandmother!!

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  30. Queenmothermamaw - I love these magpie tales. I look forward to seeing what next week's prompt will bring!

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  31. betchai - we all like to think of grandmas as sweet loving ladies who hug their grandchildren, bake nice treats, and make life special. Sadly, there are some out there who don't know the meaning of love. I encountered many in my forensic nursing world.

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  32. joanny - the poem was fiction based on many realities out there in the real world.

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  33. Tumblewords - I'm glad my magpie kept you guessing till the end! Not a wicked witch but an equally wicked grandmother!

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  34. Enchanted Oak - Granny sounds like someone out of a bad fairly tale...at last, she met her match...just a little too late.

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  35. Jingle - definitely, my imagination is WILD!

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  36. Icy BC - no child should ever have a granny like that one!!!

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  37. Jennifer - thank you! It is so nice to get that kind of praise.

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  38. Viki - glad you liked my mean granny magpie!

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  39. julie king - thanks for reading my magpie this week! I'm still laughing at your blog showing zoe ( or was it bella? ) wearing your underpants on his/her head! )

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