Reading, Writing & Other Addictions

Candles on the mantle

Of bayberry and spice

And two escalabras hold

Cinnamon tealights

Five more candles in the bedroom

Of a greenish-yellow hue

An oillamp in the bathroom

With shells of pink and blue

There are boxes in the dresser

And more boxes in hutch

Of tealights and votives

And tapers and such

But when the power fails

I discover there’s a catch

As I stumble in the darkness

My kingdom for a match

One of my favorite things to do is write a poem from a random word.  I used to be part of an online group on Gather that would send out a random work like “Spark” and ask that you create a poem around that word.  Here is a poem that I wrote from the word “Olive.”

The recipe says olives,

So I stand here in aisle three

With a million different olives

Staring back at me,

Atalanti, Kalamata,

Alfonso, Nicoise and Queen,

Brine-cured and lye-cured,

Royal, Black and Green.

There are olives stuffed with garlic,

Pimentos and assorted nuts.

I’d try those stuffed with habaneros,

But I haven’t got the guts.

Spanish olives, Greek olives,

California olives too.

The market’s full of olives,

And I don’t know what to do.

So I take a breath and close my eyes,

And then I start to think,

I’ll just go out for dinner

And have the olive in my drink.