"Fancy Dress" (inspired by Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca")

Finely orchestrated, yet so cruel.

Does each of us have our own

version of

the Manderley fancy dress ball?


We start out with innocent,

childish excitement -

yet, too soon, learn the hardest lesson of all -


feel the world becoming hostile,

and cruel. So very cruel.


Did all of us, at one time, long to have

a fancy dress ball, held "in our honour"?


Make the drummer announce me, Clarice.

You know, how they do.

"From the East Wing" (inspired by Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca")

beyond those gates

and a drive that sometimes feels

as though

it will never end

that twists and turns

through trees

more trees


beyond red rhododendron bushes

lies the house

vast, secretive, imposing

Manderley


and here

in the east wing

our bedroom

overlooking the rose gardens

so peaceful

tranquil

and from here

one cannot hear the sea


I do not think of

the west wing

her bedroom

their bedroom

the softness of her silk nightdress

white sand

rocks

the crashing waves

a cottage in the cove


from here

one cannot smell the salt wind

cannot see or hear the sea