Comic Poems by Hazel Nutter: Memories of My Friend Kim poem 462

A writer's chair. Drawing by Angela Lansbury. Copyrright.

I looked for Kim

Happy Kim

Kim who I'd be glad to greet

Kim whom I'd been glad to meet

She wasn't there

An empty chair

If she wan't here

Then why? Then where?

When we first met

I can't forget

She was seated in a crowd

A happy group luaghing loud

I smiled at her, she smiled at me

I walked towards her joyfully

Alas, I could not see a seat

Nowhere to drink, nor talk nor eat

The others shurgged

I felt unloved

She moved, so sweet

So I could have a vacant seat

Next day I rushed

For breakfast in the dining room

I saw her table, I was crushed

A man declared, 'No room! No room!'

She and I were conspirators

So, when we were able

We both sat at the same, cosy

Small, round, supposedly full table

Was there a space?

Someone said, .'No!'

I stood, perplexed

Prepared to go

I'd say goodbye

And what do next?

An empty chair

Yes, there was, no surpise

Kim gave a smile

A slight, slight, nod

She rolled her eyes

I thought I'd sit,

And so, I sat

So Kim and I

Could have a chat

I said, loudly 'When your friend

Comes back, I'll move,'

I played that game

Their missing friend? She never came!

This year I looked

Kim wasn't there

A mutual friend

I found an empty chair

I spoke politely to her friend

And then, at last, gave him a stare

I asked, 'And Kim

Please tell me, dear

Where is Kim, why's she not here?'

He paused, cleared his throat

Breathed in, and sighed

'You didn't know?

Last year she died

'She had cancer, yes, far too young

You didn't know?

I suppose, when it's your time

You have to go.'

I could not spoil, his day, his holiday

If he knew more, he didn't want to say

I could not spend more time upsetting him

He stared at the floor. I said no more

I cannot find her photograph

Yet see her smile

And hear her laugh

She was tall and she was slim

Nobody else had heard of Kim

So I'm bereft

Now she has left

I do not want to spoil my day

Nor yours

Yet she won't go away

And so instead

Censor my head

Search constantly for her photograph

For in my head an ever fading photograph

I still recall her smile and laugh

When the slightest sad thoughts begin

I overlay my thoughts of Kim

With glad memories I can't forget

The joy, the welcome, when we met

The way she cunningly

Found me my place

With raised eyebrows,

A cynic, friend's face

And so I smile as I think,

Of conspirators, a nudge, a wink

A happy person, tall and thin

My happy memory of Kim.

-ends.

Written in memory of Kim Byles at Swanwick writers Summer School at the Hayes Conference centre, Derbyshire, met annually between 2014 and 2023. Died of cancer. Into farming. Wrote a novel, never publsihed. Created a play which was performed by a group. Had a writing buddy in SW England, in Devon or Cornwall. If anybody has a photo of her, I would like to have it.

Very poignant. Despite my efforts to end on a happy note, this poem makes me cry, reading it aloud.

I asked on Facebook if anybody knew any more. Geof contacted me and gave me her family name. I found an obit and some lobvely pictures of her looking happy. I feel much better now. The picture of her on the hay bale is so jolly.

She died Dec 23rd 2023. Husband Ross. She wwas born in 1956 and died aged 67. About ten years younger than I am.

https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/byles/5164792

https://kimbyles.muchloved.com/Gallery/Pictures#image-gallery-1

It may seem odd to honour her with a poem loaded onto my comic poetry site. But her obituary asked for mourners to wear cheerful colours. Humour helps us cope with lifes downs as well as augmenting the ups.

The picture below shows her laughing atride a hay bale. I wonder if that was on her family's farm.