Sunday, October 01, 2006

Sunday Scribblings: "Skin"

It's an evening in October and my husband and I have just returned home from a brief shopping excursion to find warm, comfortable clothes at the discount store. We parked in the clean and strangely quiet underground parking ramp of the library, then rode the elevator up, before making our way outside and onto the streets of downtown Minneapolis.

As we walked, we found ourselves easily transported to the streets of Rome--caused by an equal combination of old buildings mixed with the warm smell of piss and sewage drifting up from whatever worlds exist under these roads. Being Sunday, the streets were quiet save for a few scattered wanderers and the 4 policemen checking the pulse of a man passed out in a flower bed near the corner of 5th and Nicollet. Our memories of narrow sidewalks and Roman fountains clashed with the newness of black tarred streets and shiny architecture reaching into the blue sky of this American city, but it was the smell that held our false Italy safe from interruption, both to and from the library parking ramp.

I live in the city, but I take shelter in an old house at the edge of the woods--a house that is covered in a skin of ivy the color of a ripe pomegranate, heavy with red, deep purples, and fiery gold. What is left of green is not the same as summer's, but has turned so dark that it nears translucence.

From the inside, there are deep shadows that run the lengths of every room. And today, even with the windows open to let in the warm breeze, it remains cool. We have blinds, but never need to use them, as our windows are covered in ivy, too. The light from outside has only recently turned from glowing green to a lucent scarlet. Viscosa, our little cat, hasn't left the windowsill since the transformation took place.

If it weren't for all this ivy, our house might border on painfully nondescript. But as it is, we live in a witch's cottage. The gnarled bark of old growth ivy twines it's way up the chimney, then cascades off the side door's overhang in red dripping tendrils--stretching for available space. The soft vines, with their tree frog fingers have attached themselves to the entire house, hiding the stucco, the windows, and threatening even the roof.

This house is a living thing. It is our sanctuary, but not only ours. The birds, a hundred of them, beat their wings like fragile moths as they hover then dive, breaking through the voracious growth that protects all who live here. Even at night, when I come to sit under the moon, I can hear their faint stirrings. It creates a tender effect, so achingly human. But soon, with colder weather, the leaves will drop. Our windows will fall bare to the low slanting winter light. For long months the ivy will remain dormant under ice and snow. And so, I can't help but wonder: where will the birds go? And how will it change me when they leave? I cannot explain this endless fascination that I feel towards not only these winged creatures, but the history of this house--this living, growing thing--protecting us in its fragile skin of color and tendriled vines.

The skin of others here.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I loved reading this, about your memories, about your house. It seems so cozy and inviting. I'm sure the birds will have just gone south.. a great place to be when it's cold.

Pacian said...

I love this take on the prompt. I also love the places where human civilisation is visibly meshed with the animals and plants it depends on. Your house sounds truly lovely!

bee said...

oh. my. god.

jessie!!!

i'm reading this at 7:24 in the morning. i haven't even gone to the kitchen to make coffee yet. i randomly checked your blog, and was...transported.
i love how you tell us where you live. i love thinking about you and v and the "kids" living on the edge of an enchanted forest, in a home cradled in enchanted ivy...
it's so beautiful. and written so beautifully.
thank you.

Tammy Brierly said...

Your home sounds like a cottage in a fairy tale. Great, creative, well written take on the theme.

XXOO

HoBess said...

I can smell the coffee in the mug I've seen pictures of. I've never read a more inviting description of "a witch's cottage."

Loralee Choate said...

I so want to see a picture of this place, but I am sure it wouldn't be as satisfying as reading this.

gkgirl said...

i loved reading this...
you have described such
a beautifully intriguing spot...
the sun coming through the green
of the vines...sigh...
sounds lush-ious
:)

Deirdre said...

This poetic description of your house is just gorgeous. I've never thought of my house as having skin, but I like the idea. A house has a personality, a soul, and a memory. Why not skin?

sophie said...

Enchanting:)

Amber said...

Thanks for this. It was nice to read some good atmospheric writing. I love channeling this mood, whether I'm reading it or writing it. It's transporting, soothing. And I loved your descriptions of the ivy. A house across the street is covered in the stuff, and the colors of it take my breath away every time I glance in that direction.