Today I was thinking how sometimes just a single word will be the catalyst for writing. Poetry may be more prone to this than other writing, but it can work for anything. I am posting three poems that started with just exploring one word. It is somehow extra pleasing when a poem almost springs from a simple seed. Enjoy.
Needed Change
solace,
loose fit flannel
warm toddy, blazing fire
aging dog reclined at the feet
evening giving respite from daytime's rigors
sleep through all the nocturnal hours
stiffness settles slowly in bones
coffee jolt to dulled mind
start morning tasks
solace
Rewritten Definition
There is no need to talk
silence says it all—
just listen to soft breathing
see chest rise and fall.
'Tis the love transcending
species or race—
just abiding with another
sharing air and space.
The bond making family
is not genetic traces,
it's the caring and aiding
that differences erases.
Thus pets become family,
as do close friends—
the boundary is nebulous
and definition bends.
The opposite is also true
it grinds upon the ear;
that the nuclear "family"
is not always dear.
For if there isn't love
but genetics alone
then family is a blasphemy
burning to the bone.
A canker is inseminated
in the living soul
that as it grows
tends to taint the whole.
Don't save the nuclear family
at any cost,
be circumspect and realize
some things are best lost.
So there you have it
family is just a word
to place it on a pedestal
is dangerous—and absurd.
Exposed
I am standing here naked;
I dressed in misconception,
but the rest of the world
wasn't buying my deception.
There is nothing more revealing
than the emperor's new clothes,
for the saddest fact of life
is "the wearer never knows."
So dress yourself in facts,
use the shield of disbelief,
with naught to be revealed
there will be a sweet relief.