Monday, April 25, 2011

Pinwheels

we played with pinwheels
in the afternoon sun
running down the grassy slopes
a cheap entertainment
but fun nonetheless

a gentle breeze came over the hills
like a squeeze of lime in ice water
something ordinary and simple
to replenish our bodies
every cell, tissue, and organ

and our eternal souls
bound in these imperfect forms
never quite enough
not quite quenching
the thirst inside

then the bugle tattoos, calling us in
as dusk begins to creep into our midst
and we overhear a piquant word
as we dash by, and as a sharp memory
floods us, the tears are a laugh
in the left eye and a cry in the right

wiping them away
though no one will notice
in the diminished light,
we steal closer to the front,
so we can see
the catherine wheels fly

* * * * *

This poem was written in response to the first A Baker's Dozen wordle prompt at a wordling whirl of Sundays. Brenda, over at Beyond the Bozone (you should go read her poems), has been posting wordle prompts every Sunday in April, and now she has dedicated a new blog, a wordling whirl of Sundays, to posting these wordles to inspire us. I encourage you to go check it out; I'm certainly going to play along.

6 comments:

  1. You had me looking up catherine wheels. I'm still not sure in this context, imagining weapons rather than fireworks? The bugle tattoos is perfect. I love where the words took this piece. It is open to interpretation and keeps me reading it. Well done! Thanks for the mention, too.
    ~Brenda

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  2. I was thinking fireworks; I was unfamiliar with the other meaning. Now that I've gone back and reread it it takes on a very sinister tone, a very different interpretation.

    I'm happy to give you a mention anytime. I like your poems, and your wordle prompts have been a great source of inspiration and fun for me.

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  3. I love the tone of this poem. It's both playful, nostalgic, and a call to simplicity. Your images are as fresh as that lime. I'm off to check on the site you mentioned. I've not done wordies, but they appear to really get the creative juices working.

    Linda
    Word-painting

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  4. Linda, thank you so much for your thoughtful comments and kind words. I really enjoy writing poems to wordles. Making connections between words like that does get my juices flowing.

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  5. Love where the words took you in this, Mr. Walker.

    "the tears are a laugh
    in the left eye and a cry in the right"

    Brenda's right it is open for interpretation. I especially like that.

    Pamela

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  6. Pamela, thanks. I'm partial to those lines myself. Every once in a while I come up with something that seems particularly "poetic" - and I think that fits the bill.

    I agree. There is enough room in this one for different interpretations. I love that part of writing. There's the discovery process as you write to a wordle, and then when you read it, you find the ambiguity of the language suggests more than you intended.

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