24 Comments
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Patrick Eades's avatar

I struggle to write soft and gentle (despite wanting to). It comes out soppy and overly sweet. Yours was baked perfectly!

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Zivah Avraham's avatar

Thank you! It’s not my natural writing style either. I had to write about a dangerous oven to achieve it 😂. Maybe that’s the secret - approach via a life-threatening event!

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Patrick Eades's avatar

Good idea. I'm off to dangle some loose wires next to the kitchen sink. Wish me luck!

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Zivah Avraham's avatar

Better yet, a running hairdryer over the bath!

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Ral Joseph's avatar

Finally someone that loves banana bread cake with me. I feel brought a black kid for making you present something they soft and beautiful Zivah.

I'm your biggest fan from now on and I love this. It makes me not to worry but you feel so peaceful

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Zivah Avraham's avatar

Thank you so much, Ral!

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S M Garratt's avatar

Ah, the small things that bind us together, that transcend time, space, thought and deed. This is so my wheel house, this is deep love, this is real. This is poetry I understand. This, I Loved.

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Zivah Avraham's avatar

Thank you so much!

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Nancy Santos's avatar

“I’m not usually found writing soft, gentle poems,”

I trust you’re of sound mind and won’t send the authorities to perform a wellness check. 🤣

I had a question about the oven but found the answer in the comments. Holy shit!

Reading your ‘gentle’ side took me back to times of similar worries. Different worries but better now.

And the wrinkles and sprinkles…I get that too. I noticed recently my fucking eyelids are sagging. Whatever. Maybe glaring at people will be easier to disguise now. 🤣

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Zivah Avraham's avatar

Oh, same! Gravity is winning. How bloody dare it! 😂 Soon giving a side eye means we’ll be looking into our own droopy eyelids…

Still, we’ll look even more scary - which is it how it should be, right?! 😈

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ARC's avatar

so excited to read this a whole bunch!

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Zivah Avraham's avatar

Thank you!

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M.P. Fitzgerald's avatar

This is very lovely, Zivah, it made me smile 😁

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Zivah Avraham's avatar

Thank you! That oven was lethal. I’m sure it wasn’t wired in properly ⚡️

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M.P. Fitzgerald's avatar

Okay, I HAVE to ask: what happened with the oven?

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Zivah Avraham's avatar

It was an ancient electric oven. Take a pan off the hob before turning off the ring in question and it was a 50/50 chance that it would arc like a welder’s torch in any direction. I have a small scar below my eye to prove it.

And the thermostat for the main oven was, shall we say, temperamental.

We dropped the letting agent in it with the overseas owner after we left. He sacked them and gave us all of our deposit back. - the agent had refused to give back to us. They had also refused to organise a new oven. Or service the gas boiler.

Ah, the good old days! 😂

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Jill Eng's avatar

Awwwwwwww. Love it. I think you have written another one here or there--at The Other Place. Because I have this image of the two of you and there's no place I could have gotten it but your writing. This was sweet and soft and made me happy for both of you. Lucky her getting some nice banana bread! Great piece 🥳🥳

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Zivah Avraham's avatar

Haha, yes! Don’t let my secret out! 😂

Thank you 😊

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Debdutta Pal's avatar

I love this so much. It's better than banana bread (which I like a lot).

And I will be wondering about the mysterious hole tonight.

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Zivah Avraham's avatar

Banana bread is the food of the gods! 😂

And that hole. Truly, you could see behind some very questionable wall slats down to something… dark. Like a basement that had been blocked off. It gave us the creeps!

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Josh Datko's avatar

This is why I don't fix things around the house -- a fully operational home doesn't inspire poems :) haha.

You shouldn't apologize for writing soft poems, it suits you. Very nice.

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Zivah Avraham's avatar

Ahhhh, thank you, Josh!

A fully operational home. Surely the stuff that dreams are made of!!

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Zachary Dillon's avatar

Beautiful. Intimate and simple.

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Zivah Avraham's avatar

Thank you!

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