Love me like sludge

PJ Ryan
Author: PJ Ryan
Word Count: 308
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Love me like sludge

Love me like sludge belongs to the following groups:

All Things Poetic, Artistic, Philosophical, Graphic Scratch and Short stories - Spherical Scriptings

Swirling my hands around in the large vase, I wipe the sluggish plant remnants from the glass.

The water smells strangely like animal faeces and it makes me dry wretch. Sloppy strands of retired plant and stem stick to my hands like seaweed.

I want to squeeze my hands tightly and let the green botanical matter ooze out from in between the webbing of my fingers.

I stroke the thick stems of the sunflowers underneath the running water of the kitchen tap and I grate away the 5 day old scum.

The flowers are almost closed now, though still golden yellow and filled with the hundreds of tiny little black pollen that isn’t seed.

They look sad and floppy, their faces turned downward.

I feel guilty for having these large flowers in my house and wish that they were standing proudly, planted in my back garden instead.

I remember once, I walked home on a warm summer night with a boy who scolded me for ripping a large impressive flower from someone’s garden. I wasn’t sure if he was upset because he might’ve thought I was stealing or whether he was more concerned for the plant.

He told me I was hurting it.

Don’t do that to plants, it hurts them … leave them there and they’re happy.

I wonder if he left me only months later because he thought he’d hurt me.

Perhaps, he’d thought that I was a flower, better left in someone else’s garden.

I wanted to sit between his hands though. I wanted him to hold me between his hands and wrap me in something beautiful and present me like a gift to the world. I wanted him to look at me and think that I were something so special; he could do nothing but pick me.

But he left me.

© ryan

  • Jessica  Tremp

    Jessica Tremp

    ah…there it is again…that little pierce in my heart…x

  • Shanina Conway

    Shanina Conway

    You are such a talent…you’ve taken the worse job in the world and weaved it into something that pulls on the heartstrings;)

  • lianne

    lianne

    Oh Nicole this is just so incredibly good! And that last line is an absolute killer! Your writing always rocks me back on my heels!

  • Lisa  Jewell

    Lisa Jewell

    awwwwwww Nicole…..your never cease to amaze me….love the metaphor…and my lordy that last line, pierced through me..

  • jcmontgomery

    jcmontgomery

    Please take this as a compliment…but your work slaps me upside my head so hard sometimes I really have a hard time leaving a coherent comment. xx

  • ufosIsee

    ufosIsee

    PJ.. that was fire and so damn awsome… That placement was bang on, and kick ass..
    What a good read 4 me at 12:00 am…

  • Jess Andrews

    Jess Andrews

    stunning

  • ArcadiaTempest

    ArcadiaTempest

    Ahhh…. that is bitter sweet alright. I so enjoy work like this that can convey a message with such OOOMF with a simple and lightness. Creative +

  • Zolton

    Zolton

    One of the saddest parts of buying cut flowers even thought they brighten the house. Oh… and yes… the end was a surprise and very deep.

  • Luke Downes

    Luke Downes

    i once picked flowers from a neighbor’s yard. i was 5. it was mother’s day. my stepfather punished me for it, anyway! my mom secretly told me she loved me for it. she’s been telling me secrets ever since.

  • yt sumner

    yt sumner

    damn it. I’m emotional at the moment and should know better than to come to words like yours where I know my heart will get that extra squeezing.
    I can’t take flowers from yards either. x

  • PJ Ryan replied

    I’m sending you big healing hugs that aren’t too tight x

  • Rebekah  Anderson

    Rebekah Anderson

    Flawless writing. Had a seamless flow-on to the end from what seemed an obscure start. And such beautiful imagery at the end. Absolutely loved it!

  • Sticky Flower

    Sticky Flower

    ouch…
    I picked a flower the other day.A beautiful pink dahlia.It was growing outside the fence so I figured it was waiting for me to pick it.. and I did. :-)

  • aglaia b

    aglaia b

    b e a u t i f u l
    ;-) xox

  • linaji

    linaji

    WOW!! SISTA.. THE LEAD ON THIS IS BRIGHT ASS ORIGINAL.. YOU ARE AMAZING STILL.. the valley inbetween two people can be closed with one heartfelt stoke of a pen.. to allow for the differences to be pleasurable and kind..
    Love you.
    Linaji

  • lazydaze

    lazydaze

    yep u were his flower!! nice story :))

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