Valerie Coddett - Literary Poetic Tales

INTRODUCTION

     Come with me as we embark on a journey:
The stories give an insight into the life of a woman living in a foreign land. Encounters of unimaginable proportions occurred and many were the virtual relationships that emanated from the thoughts within her. Unleash your own imagination. Let it go wild as you read through the short stories. She is a lover of music, she plays the piano and reveals characteristics that directly relate to her interpretation of the mysteries of life. Each short story is a revelation in itself. Folklore, art, music, poetry, romance, fantasy, reality - all make up the story telling - a potpourri if you will....JMoore    

Ways

ways in

and ways out

among continents

between seasons

between affections

i have traveled

all of them --

Inge Judd

***

On vacation in Nigeria while travelling by car with two female friends, a policeman suddenly flagged us down. It was during a time when cars were being stopped at random by the police and checked. We exited the car. Outraged, my two Nigerian friends began objecting vehemently, arguing in a loud manner. The policeman stood and pointed his gun at us. The more they raised objections, he raised the gun.  At that point I started to beg for my life-  >> PLEASE   >> PLEASE  -  thinking that my only sister would hear about my death in some village in Nigeria! The friends stared at me - “Why are you begging him - let him shoot us!” It was a terrifying experience, to say the least. The week prior, a US Nigerian athlete who returned on vacation was killed, his car stopped at random. It was reported in the news on TV that I’d watched.

***

The discovery that one art form led to other art forms. The satisfaction gained, in sharing information with others, made my relationships rich/richer.“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” In 1989, it was impossible for me to view the Velazquez  Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in one visit. Again in 1990, “Mexico: Splendors of 30 Centuries” proved to be a rare feast. I fled the Metropolitan Museum on both occasions - the spectacle before me created such a sensation in my head that it swirled on confronting so much beauty. I was catapulted to the edge of ascending into heaven! 

Brings to mind the former New York Governor “keeling” over beauty of another kind … or the joy expressed in Bernini’s rendition of St. Theresa of Avila! One wonders how Bernini would have sculpted Mother Theresa, the Saint of Calcutta.

***


For my father Kingsley Coddett, a teacher at Blairmont Government School.   He took the Blairmont launch every day to cross the river. One day he came home soaking wet, riding his bicycle. He had slipped and fallen into the Berbice river in Guyana.

             Water

      Into the vortex

pulled, hauled, mauled

atoms, molecules, particles, quarks

flying splitting disintegrating

            unite

Water, Water, everywhere

Liquid gold of the primordial soup.

Life running through the veins

            Bubble

Stream of essence flowing

through the faucet of the throat

            Cleanse

        Roots, weeds!

Water, Water, the magic potion

in myriad forms on the planet,

the Miracle Planet.

               Life!

               

Valerie Coddett