April 29, Napowrimo 2026. The penultimate day and we are prompted to ponder how our past is reflected in our present after reading Jennifer Moxley’s “After Turning the Clocks Back.”
We are to try comparing our everyday present life with our past self, using specific details to conjure aspects of our past and present in the reader’s mind.
This prompt was an open invitation to indulge maudlin nostalgia, which was something I tried to avoid – almost.
During which course did the menu change,
From the plain school starter of no expectation,
To the half-eaten dessert of retrospection?
This carte du jour is seasoned with deception.
Salad days of summer haze and snowball fights,
Coated in unblemished skin with thoughts within,
Peppered not with paprika aspiration.
A meal none too disappointing.
These recipes I wrote and read,
Of health and wealth but never greed,
Can’t sate my taste for teas not in my dreams.
Yet, regret is an unflavoured sorbet.
I see the walk to supper simmer to reduction,
Feel the kitchen light fading out of sight.
Though the dinner bell is dimming in my ears,
I hear the cheeseboard call my name out in the night.
Missives & Musings 