Poetry Pals - Week 5 - Revision

I’m late - opps - taking a poem or idea unfinished and revising it

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

This week we were tasked to take an unfinished poem or a brief line that had been discarded and still needed work. It took me a while but I searched through my many documents and finally found a few lines I liked and could still remember the idea I had in my head at the time I conceived the words. It’s changed a lot of times, I posted a shorter, unfinished version on

Poetry Pals

last Friday and the lovely

Kate Hook

said it reminded her of packing up after her nan moved to a nursing home and that spurred me on to write more.

---

Small House

It is just a small house, 
full of wood and sun-dust,
small on the outside,
cosy on the inside, 
warm and rich and velvety,
full of soft things, 
twisted-by-nature things; 
I love being here. 
Lemon light from the windows, 
seeps languidly inwards, 
caressing as it flows by.

An old hook hangs on the wall, 
twisted brass nailed erratically,
the careless angle  
a careful reminder of the 
story that once hung there. 
The wall stained with memory,
small and square, 
a picture now lost, 
somewhere discarded. 

Lacklustre apple crates, 
broken and splintered
squat on the old farmhouse table,
the careful collections of a 
life well lived tossed inside, 
carelessly abandoned,
awaiting relocation. 
Empty spaces between the dust
clutter paint worn shelves
their gathered memories removed. 

China teacups slightly cracked, 
tannin staining the crazed glaze, 
worn gold rimmed handles
too small for my stubby digits,
lie askew in the sink
calcium streaks from the long dripping tap
slowly blighting the crockery’s once fine sheen.

It is just a small house, 
full of wood and sun-dust,
small on the outside,
cosy on the inside, 
warm and rich and velvety,
full of the soft things,
full of memories and stories.
And carefully I will remember them. 

Feb 2024

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I’m running behind a bit, I’ve not even started thinking about this weeks task. I have spontaneously written a couple of others too. Sometimes that’s just how it happens. I’ll leave those for a bit to see if they settle well.

So, until next weeks task, see you again.

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