Tuesday 22 July 2014

POETRY JAM - TRASH OR TREASURE?


“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” – English Proverb

Poetry Jam's topic for this week is: “Think of something that was trash/junk to you and a treasure to someone else, or vice versa – someone else’s trash/junk as your treasure. Write a poem about the experience.” Here is my offering:

Keepsakes

A closed drawer opened:
A dirty, crumpled envelope;
A dried-up mouldy flower;
A piece of faded fabric torn;
A Cracker Jack ring made of tin;
And a little stone heart, broken.
All trash; they were thrown out.

All trash; they were thrown out,
With other junk found all about
In house locked up in silence,
Disturbed by renovator’s violence.

A dirty, crumpled envelope;
That holds a treasured note,
Where words of tender hope
With love you fondly wrote.

A dried-up mouldy flower;
Once cut with sweet affection
In rosy, fragrant secret bower,
To mark our joy’s perfection.

A piece of faded fabric torn;
From summer dress then worn,
My finger’s wound to stanch –
Caused by the thorny branch.

A Cracker Jack ring made of tin;
Given in earnestness of youth,
Was good enough your heart to win,
Its tinny falsity concealing truth.

And a little stone heart, broken –
That signals doom, betrayal
Of vows of love then spoken
And of our play’s inept portrayal…

Our story’s ended, new ones start
With players fresh and young of heart,
Not mindful of the sad portent
Of closed drawer opened.

19 comments:

  1. excellently expressed emotions....

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  2. "renovator’s violence" make the past treasure look so weak, timid and worthless...the pathos is palpable here...

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  3. So nostalgic... I felt as if I were there, going through the drawer with you.

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  4. Oh I just loved this one, Nicholas! Yes there is trash and treasure there, but also the traces of an old tragic love story linked with the present through those keepsakes molding in an old drawer. Keepsakes that are important for the people whose lives they marked, not for the violent renovators who dismissed them as junk. But there is a sting int he tail of the tale... We throw out others' keepsakes that are unimportant to us, but in the future the same will be done to our own.
    Exquisite!

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  5. Great wistful poem, Nick! I felt like I was standing next to you and you were softly explaining the story of each item you had found in this drawer. We all have such faded little objects with a story attached to them and sometimes when we find them we can measure how much we have moved on.

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  6. A very moving poem, Nick. Makes me think of some things I have found. I have, for example, my mother's confirmation dress; and my mother has been deceased now for 20 years. No one after me will find value in it, but I cannot throw it away. And, yes, when one finds a mouldy flower somewhere, one cannot but think about the significance of the flower originally & though the meaning has long been lost at one time it was part of someone's history. I think we all save bits of our own history along the way...for ourselves...but when someone else discovers the 'mouldy flowers' of our lives sometime in the future they will undoubtedly be trashed as they preserve their own flowers, their own futures, for a time.

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  7. What a great format! Loved this! It holds quite a story.

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  8. Is this the cascade form? Collections of memories.Nostalgia pieces, meaningless to most. That is why poets and artists are essential ...to civilise the world by recording these feelings. There are not enough of us sadly, and the cold concrete renovators are creeping into our aura. Sad poem with an air of inevitability about it ...the old making way for the new...time's up....mouldy flowers here we come...let's go out for a drink instead:)

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    1. Hi Rall. Not the cascade form per se, but a variant that I devised. I'll be in for that drink!

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  9. excellent, i love the form and the way it makes you think about value and what is held dear. Opens up really well.

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  10. that "And a little stone heart, broken –" such a jolt of sadness; lovely write; have a nice Wednesday

    much love...

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  11. I like how you included the stories of each of the objects introduced in the beginning of the poem. Makes for a story. Thank you for visiting my blog as well.

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  12. Beautiful poem and the form you have used with expansion of the first verse and cyclical form is fantastic and well-suited to the subject.

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  13. I loved this - so touching. Those little keepsakes that awaken a long ago memory. Beautiful write,

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  14. so sad... so very sad!! yet beautiful!

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  15. I love the way you brought to thought the value of discarded items. Enjoyed this piece-well done!

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  16. I really like the form of your poem, Nicholas. It feels like reading a story instead of a poem. Besides, those kind of "random stuff drawers" - that's how I call them - hold so many memories, so I find that was an excellent source of inspiration. Simply terrific! I loved it!

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  17. I enjoyed how you crafted the memories of each piece.

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