Fire Starter

For We Write Poems poetry prompt #196: What’s Your Sign http://wewritepoems.wordpress.com/

Fire Starter

Words are matches
used to ignite
blazes,
language
liquid fuel
to keep them burning.

Finds certain comfort
in fluttering flames
dancing,
changing definitions
in details
of her dreams.

Strangers come
spurred
by light and warmth,
even when
she’d prefer
to be alone.

Conversations
only add kindling
she keeps
in memory’s closet,
the better to build
future fires.

Smiles when she
imagines herself
no more than
smoke signals,
echoes of truth
on distant horizon.

Elizabeth Crawford  1/16/14

Notes: Secret? The only real reward in being the prompter, rather than the prompted, is that one has some advance time to write to the given prompt. Or, that’s the way it should work. I had something prepared for this morning, but when I pulled it up, it seemed jumbled and confusing and I wasn’t at all pleased with it. But, that first verse slid into my thoughts and the rest of it (with a bit of struggle) fell into place. While writing it, the first image came to mind. It is a digital painting that I did a few years ago and came together while I was just messing with some colors. After writing the above, I took that original image and put it through the kaleidoscope app, and it immediately suggested the final verse. Gotta love how things come together.