A Deadline Again
by Sonja Bichsel
Again, I thought and watched a bird fly by my window wings open, striding towards the sky.
Again, I looked at my watch sand and sawdust dripping through my fingers and sticking to my skin like molasses.
Again, I found myself lost in a sentence not knowing where I had left the subject in relationship to the object.
Again, I opened the window following the swallows diving through midair in unexpected maneuvers catching fireflies and ladybugs.
Again, the phone didn’t ring. Again, the phone didn’t ring. Again, the phone didn’t ring.
Again, the silence of the phone not ringing grew louder.
Again, I didn’t know what to answer.
Again, I was looking for answers in the fridge between two bottles of milk a pack of butter and an empty freezer.
What was I looking for again?
Again, I listened to the song that had been playing three mornings again and again in never-ending loops.
Again, I looked at my watch, slowly growing impatient. No more time to loose, I jumped on my bike wheels spinning again and again and again and again until I couldn’t hear the again anymore and decided to move on
- again –
to another word.
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Anyone care to join Sonja at the Dolder Grand in Zurich? I myself would love to go there…again!
Beautiful writing. So many great sentences…Lovely.
Thank you, Kristy, for your kind words.
I adore the cadence of pounding of manual typewriter keys with hand return feel. I would consider this poem rather than story, but the urgency of completing has a newsroom deadline about it which every writer dreads, but needs to live at times. “A Deadline Again” clicks again and again with each hand return giving us, the readers, a fresh and catchy phrase to savor, but not too long.
bling – now the typewriter is ringing in my ears and I could sing with delight. Typewriters are delicious paired with newsroom deadlines and a pinch of poetry. Thank you for your lovely comment.
Pure poetry to the eyes and mind and I want to read it ‘again’.
Perhaps I can write it again too. Thank you, Monica. I am happy your mind and eyes have taken pleasure in my lines.
Again, the silence of the phone not ringing grew louder.
I loved this line. Thank you for the smile and the memories. Great story!
Thank you, Mike, I am joining in the smile.
Sing to us anytime, whether again or another time, I don’t care but sing.
This was fun/nice and so much like a writer’s mind on display. Yepyepyep… Reads more like stream of consciousness merged with a hymn. Wonder how it would sound set to music?