Sunday, January 23, 2011

Night Burnings


Evening was dying into night
when she said she could do it,
would do it,
the wager unnecessary,
smoking, that is, without
choking, coughing,
a cigar, that is, but
it had to be a good one,
Cuban, preferably contraband,
so the man from Habana
handed his cigar
to the woman from Den Haag,
and she inhaled, exhaled,
smoke rising in circles from
sun-drenched
blood-drenched
fire-drenched
leaves, washed down
with brandewijn, she called it,
burnt wine for burnt leaves;
as she laughed
a single wisp of smoke
kissed
a single drop of wine
glistening in the corner
of her smile.

To see other poems prompted by the photograph, please visit One Stop Poetry.

Photograph by Mike Roemer for One Stop Poetry. Used with permission.

16 comments:

Jerry said...

I can see it as a challange. Nice take. You really pound on the nouns. nice.

Anonymous said...

Don't think I could smoke a Cuban without choking either Glynn ;) really enjoyed this different look at the photo

dustus said...

Bravo! Very creative. Completely different than all the ones I've read thus far, Glynn. Can picture the wager and reaction vividly.

Louise Gallagher said...

Love this!

Unknown said...

Glynn, this is really good!

hedgewitch said...

Love the sense of daring and living on the edge you've put into this, as well as the fine imagery and the very humanizing character detail. A pleasure, as always, to read.

Reflections said...

You nailed this one! So can see this as a challenge, so can see him eating his words as the circles rise, that final tinge of the lost wager.

Fireblossom said...

Cigars are just nasty, yikes. But your poem is quite nice!

Maureen said...

Nice take on a classic scene.

Anonymous said...

i like how you started
with evening
dying into night

and the sound of
man from habana

and the single wisp
kissed
the single drop

oh...and the three times drenched

i guess i better stop picking it apart
it isa

very cool imaginative story
well done, glynn

Gigi Ann said...

What a great and different take on the prompt. So many different descriptions of the picture today, I think I like yours the best.

Ami Mattison said...

What a wonderful and original take on the prompt! I love it! Some really great images here. "Sun-drenched/blood-drenched/fire-drenched" Fantastic use of repetition.

Jenne' R. Andrews said...

This is one of your best. Strong imagery, a tender movement; you let your psyche into the scenario in fascinating ways! Bravo! j

Jenne' R. Andrews said...

I'd like to see you do a series on the them of "Night Burnings"-- we need direct, honest poetry by men. xxxj

signed...bkm said...

Really nice take on this challenge Glynn..love the sun-drenched, blood-dreanched, fire-drenched...great sound to this...well done....bkm

H. Gillham said...

I liked it too.

So playful.