Go to Onestoppoetry.com and link your poem to go with the brilliant photo prompt above, provided this week by Rob Hanson…go on…do it…
Perfect Words
If I hold that dusty
bakelite cup close to my mouth
and murmur perfect words
into its black rim, my dead father,
his father, all their fathers before
would hear, would whisper forgotten wisdom
to smooth my uncertainties,
find perspective for my mistakes,
guide my faltering steps towards the future.
But which words are perfect?
A supernatural flair to your poem that also maintains an aspect of ardent seriousness. Very well done, Sally. Great creative response to the prompt!
thank you Adam, I couldn’t resist the temptation to give in to whimsy…
nice…we only hope we could communicate with those long passed and what would they say to us, and hope they would want to just hear about who we have become in their absence…oh we wish…
…just ten minutes with my Dad would be wonderful
I wonder your imagery, or say your feelings. What are those perfect words, I wish to know them too. This communication has been suspended but our ancestors would have definitely advised us better, no doubt. Now broken links are all what hover around us, what else. Beautiful!
thank you…if only we knew the language to speak
very poignant with fathers’ day almost here
as the anniversary of dad’s funeral is in the week of Fathers’ Day, it is always a time of reflection for me
just words of love seem to be perfect..and in a way they bring back life…
but if those words are said too late…
A wonderful perspective on imagery, memories and how our individual legacies provide the eyes through which we see. Thank you!
Thank you Berna. So often I wish I could just see that little bit further.
That’s very true Sally, which words are perfect? However much advice from long dead spirits we receive, the path is always our own
Thank you Shan. The only way is forward, but sometimes I miss that quiet word from someone older, wiser, or even just someone, my father, who loved me unconditionally.
Lovely idea and central image
thank you John
Ah yes, what are perfect words! Those which carry the message to those loved ones from long ago, now only a memory in our hearts. But how often we look to them and ask ourselves… what would they think of this?
as poets those are the words we strive for and every time they remain just out of reach. Thank you for reading and commenting.