Poems To Celebrate the Ordinary In Exceptional Ways

It is often said -ideas exist in things, and so we have around us an almost infinite range of possibilities for writing. Emily Dickinson wrote of possibility when she stated, -'I dwell in possibility- a fairer house than prose.'

For a poet, anything and everything is potentially treasure. Something that might seem unworthy of attention can be re-imagined by a poet's careful use of words. Chilean poet,  Pablo Neruda, urged us to notice the small, the inconsequential things in our world. He demonstrated his awareness of such things in his anthology,  'Odes to Common Things.'

When we begin to pay attention to the small and inconsequential, we unleash the potential for creating something that might be seen as quite grand.

Noticing things in our everyday world, improves with practice and close observation. This action, coupled with careful word choice, raises something  initially thought of as ordinary, to a position of reconsidered value.

With all these thoughts swirling in my head, I felt inspired to write when I happened to come across some spring onions (scallions) well past their use by date, hiding at the back of the crisper. A small, event in my day, but a moment worthy of a poet's attention. So, I stopped to acknowledge this 'thing' I had experienced. The scallions didn't survive, but the moment has been captured...

Sit still, look around you, and imagine the wealth of poetic possibilities in the things right in front of you. 

The Passing of Spring Onions

I approached the refrigerator

In the clear hope

Of opening the door

To a bounty of lunchtime inspiration.

My mind absorbed with the prospect of

Nutritious possibilities.

 

Instead, my eyes fell upon

Three spring onions

Huddled at the rear of the crisper

Limp and wilted,

Close to death,

Victims of neglect,

-So far removed from their initial firm, freshness.

 

Now, trapped in an eight degree plastic coffin

-Undeserving of such a fate

So keen to join the ranks of salad ingredients,

They were.

-Dreams dashed now.

What irony, these once snappy scallions should meet their end

In a crisper.

Alan j Wright

It is yet again, Poetry Friday, and this week our host is Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise. Linda's post provides a combination of galaxy and grief. Please visit to discover more about this and gain access to a host of other worldly poets.