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
14 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 . . . .
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.