The h2g2 Poem: The Familiar Room
Created | Updated Apr 21, 2013
Minorvogonpoet was inspired by the idea of mental time travel.
The Familiar Room
I stand in that familiar room,
with narrow bed and pink-flecked paper,
try to place myself there as girl.
I remember travelling south in snow,
arriving at a neglected house.
Dim light from blue glass windows,
corrugated iron garage
looking like storm damage,
an oak tree cropped to a bearded pole.
I want to give that girl advice
about surviving her unfamiliar school.
A gaggle of girls, skirts hitched high
murmur as a mantra the names
of pop stars – to this girl from a distant
town a foreign language.
I want to say don’t be a tree
difficult to transplant – open
your leaves to a different sun.
But the girl stands in the familiar room
looking at the tree. I cannot reach,
provide advice on her journey.
