Dear Arson/Poet
Strike a match of words
Ignite the spine of passion
Singe the tongue of hate
Blaze the sky with wonder
Burn down governments
Roll the heat
Between your fingers
Like a kinder cigarette
Draw deep your heart
Into the exhaling lungs
Let smoke tear the eye
Tap the tindered ash
The round red tip
A vortex inferno
Alone
In the dark
Across the lake
Someone spies
Your raw red scar
A beacon in the dark
And inhales the smolder
Of hope
19 thoughts on "Dear Arson/Poet"
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This poem sparks passion and ignites hope. Yes!!
The last stanza is my favorite!
Thanks, H. A.! I happened to be sitting on my balcony in the dark and saw someone light a cigarette on another terrace. All I saw was the tip of the cigarette and started wondering . . . .
What a great moment! Well, your poem is incredible. Yay for smoking? 🤷♀️
Thanks! That was why I went with a “kinder” cigarette. Mine doesn’t cause any health issues.
Line after line –so visually captivating and stirring—
“The round red tip
A vortex inferno ” –I love that it made me pause.
I love this poem in is wrath splash of words and that it ends with the word “hope”!
Thank you, Ann! And thank you for the pause. When someone takes a drag from their cigarette, that red tip flares out, not quite an inferno, but hyperbole is a great tool.
Another great poem, Sylvia! I also an most struck by the last stanza, its shape and the short last line.
Thanks, Nancy. I am so happy to be reading your poems every day! Groupie at heart.
I love this series.
Thank you for that kind comment, Carole! You have injected the word “rucksack” into my brain, and it won’t go away! I traveled around the country as well, but we had an old teal blue dented Dodge van. Not a rucksack in sight, sad to say.
I love “Singe the tongue of hate.” Well done!
Thank you so much, John. Singe is almost too nice for tongues of hate, but it fit this version.
I love this, today I was listening to a song called arsonist’s lullaby. Among the lyrics: All you have is your fire
And the place you need to reach
Don’t you ever tame your demons
But always keep ’em on a leash
Oh Arwen, thank you so much for this! Love the title and lyrics and will have to look that up!
I love “Like a kinder cigarette…” and the entire last stanza sings!
Thanks for commenting on that, Shaun! I can’t tell you how many words I went through before I went into kinder mode. Sometimes it feels like panning for gold trying to find the right word.
Sylvia, I love this poem, especially the opening —
Strike a match of words
Ignite the spine of passion
Singe the tongue of hate
Blaze the sky with wonder
Burn down governments
Roll the heat
Between your fingers
I would tell my students, don’t give me wimpy words or lazy verbs, use your thesaurus (it’s on your phone). Give me words that set my hair on fire! When Steve Cope was mentoring me, he told me the best poems have a surprise, the unexpected And here is yours:
Of hope
All that violence, flame, and fury…and then you give us “hope.” Thank you for this poem.
“A raw red scar
A beacon in the dark
And inhales the smolder
of hope.” fills my heart with the promise of more peaceful times. I love how your title leads into each line, each stanza, building up to this symphonic ending.
That beginning line hooked me right away. Quite masterful. Thank you so much.