It's Friday Flash time again...
The prompt is...
Giving
The rules are very simple if you’d like to take part:
1) Write for no longer than five minutes;
2) No upper or lower word limits;
3) You must write something new;
4) You can prepare your post ahead of time but the 5 minute limit still applies; and
5) If you add your blog post to the weekly linky you must visit five other blogs that week too to show your support.
2) No upper or lower word limits;
3) You must write something new;
4) You can prepare your post ahead of time but the 5 minute limit still applies; and
5) If you add your blog post to the weekly linky you must visit five other blogs that week too to show your support.
Here are mine... each individual poem was given a maximum of 5 minutes.
Giving
In the doorway he slumps down
Turning neon below a hotel sign
A trickle of rain bounces off his nose
To patter on the cold stone ground
Passersby give him the cold eye
As he stares out beneath his hat
The night chill wanders around him
Hugs his shoulders tighter yet
Across the street, crowds gather
Queuing noisily to enter the club
In the distance a guitar is wailing
Inside, his hopes are languishing
He remembers times past in light
Faces he once loved and lost
The times they change so swiftly
He almost doesn’t know himself
Here in the doorway, no one stops
Invisible his heart seems to pour
But no one feels it sitting there
They step over his legs, he isn’t here
Down the pavement a girl strides
Hugging her warm coat around her
The lonely man looks up and smiles
At her sweet and bonny face
Peering down again, he sniffs
While the cold sneaks into his toes
Swirls of water chase down the gutter
Carrying a forlorn leaf or two
Yet she stops and speaks and smiles
Spilling coins into his waiting hand
The spirit of giving warms him
Resurrecting the man inside.
Haiku on the theme of giving
Dressed all in pink, she
Recalls her mum, finishing
Her JustGiving race
Walking Shep, she stops
Before the open smile to
Post a greeting card
“Giddy up” shouts Santa,
Chasing the elves with their gifts –
“Christmas is coming!”
Sparkling tinsel lights
Bright boxes eager to thrill
Waking Christmas kids
Vickie - you captured the compassion of those who notice the homeless beggars. There is so much we don't know about their situation unless we look them in the eye and ask them their name.
ReplyDeleteThe Haiku would make for an amazing season greeting card.
Thanks. There's some words I'd change if there was more time. I once gave a homeless guy a fiver - I remember this cos I was at college and walking up Charing Cross Road with friends - and he tried to give it back. It's the most I've ever given someone in the street because he looked in a really bad way. I told him it was for him. He looked about to cry.
DeleteThere's a sponsorship thing to help homeless people living at Centrepoint in London. I pay towards that monthly. I like the feeling that it's helping. It's not much, but it's something.
Thanks about the haiku. I hadn't thought of cards. I write them really quickly and then go back and sometimes change words. Cards is a good idea.
Beautiful poems, Vickie. There's a lovely man we regularly see in our town and give money to but I often think it's the time and the words we give him that he appreciates as much as the money. Centrepoint is a fantastic scheme - I really hope it grows and grows!
ReplyDeleteThanks Donna.
DeleteThe scheme is the 'Sponsor a Room' one. It's £12 per month. The link is here: http://www.centrepointroom.org.uk/
Your poem has some good night imagery, personifying it like that. I wonder what made the connection between the two at the end that other passerbys couldn't come to.
ReplyDelete