Wednesday, 6 February 2008

Daily Spark Word: Warm

In celebration of blue skies and the hint of Summer in London, today's spark word is 'warm'. Don't forget that, if you haven't already, contributing a poem to a daily challenge is as simple as either posting your poem as a comment, or commenting on the post with a link to wherever the poem is stored. Have fun!

the warmth of a sun

there is little in this world
as engulfing
as time vaporising
as critical
as a day spent in the sun

6 comments:

Tamara said...

In response to the power crisis we are experiencing in South Africa...

Warm

Warm is what my stove once was
When bulbs were bright and screens would glow.
Warm is how I like my food,
Straight out the pot while I watch my show.

Warm is how I take my bath,
When the geyser's on and the water flows.
Warm is how I like my tub,
Not cold and miz so I freeze my toes.

So why is warmth so hard to find?
Coz Eskom's as clever as a horse's behind.

Miss Ticket Stubs said...

Very amusing! I remember growing up in Australia and having a few power-cuts for days on end - it always lead to talks of privatising the power companies, etc, etc.

Jim Murdoch said...

I guess I'm not feeling that warm today.


Stale Truth

I couldn't warm to him.
His eyes were rheumy
the colour of phlegm,
his skin was pale,
worn and dusty like parchment.

He never smiled but then
that's not really true.
I simply didn't
care for his smiles.
I tried to avoid him, turned

mirrors to face the wall
and gave up shaving
but no mouthwash was
ever able
to mask that taste in his mouth,

the taste of youth gone off.

Miss Ticket Stubs said...

I'm really enjoying the themes of age, journey and reality in your poems, Jim. It's interesting particularly because my themes are often youth, immediacy and rawness (although it probably comes across more in my fiction that my poems).

Thanks again for contributing! I really appreciate your eagerness to join in, and I love that you seem to be finding the challenges inspiring. Have you grown accustomed to writing off the cuff yet, or does is it still feel outside your comfort zone?

Jim Murdoch said...

I'll be honest it's a little weird. No, it's a lot weird. It's not that I can't write quickly because these days I usually do. It's simply I've never been very good at writing serious poetry to order. I can run off a birthday card verse without breaking a sweat. I just don't like putting out stuff that's not polished. That I find uncomfortable. But it's an interesting project. I don't do 'eager' though.

Tamara said...

Yes, we have rolling blackouts happening once or twice a day for two hours or more at the moment. The cartoonists (and bloggers) are finding it great material though.

Jim, love your poem. The first stanza had me thinking, "So what?" But in the second and third stanza, you really pulled me in. The split line about turning mirrors to the wall... great stuff.

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