Junk drawer song

 Day 10: today's prompt is  “Junk Drawer Song,” and comes to us from the poet Hoa Nguyen.

  • First, find a song with which you are familiar – it could be a favorite song of yours, or one that just evokes memories of your past. Listen to the song and take notes as you do, without overthinking it or worrying about your notes making sense.
  • Next, rifle through the objects in your junk drawer – or wherever you keep loose odds and ends that don’t have a place of their own. On a separate page from your song-notes page, write about the objects in the drawer, for as long as you care to.
  • Now, bring your two pages of notes together and write a poem that weaves together your ideas and observations from both pages.

I took as my song "Happy" by Pharrell Williams, because it always makes me feel positive,  even in the face of life's messes. 


"Give me all you've got
Can't nothing bring me down"

Like a room without a roof, like a miniature tardis
The drawer takes to its heart all those once essential things
That you never know when you might need again. 

Serviettes you forget are there
When friends come round for coffee and cake
Kept for next time,  when you will remember. 

Incense cones and matches,  left there
When they made your loved one cough
Stashed away for lazy summer evenings, outside. 

Elastic bands,  hair clips,  a comb
For when you can't be bothered climbing the stairs
No matter how much your hair is bothering you. 

Hand cream (two) - Calendula,  and Hemp,
To soothe your hands after washing up and cleaning, 
Abandoned half used, since you started wearing Marigolds. 

Toothpicks, lip balm,  a compact mirror
Waiting patiently to take their rightful place
When their doubles on the mantel shelf wear out. 

A rolled up sparkly banner shouting Congratulations!
Its previous outing,  surely years ago, since forgotten
But you never know when it might next be needed. 

Everyone has a junk drawer, full of life's odds and ends
A delightful mix that would never belong together, 
Each item with potential suspended, each with a story to tell.  


© Copyright 2021. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Leave taking

I've been to two funerals recently. I suppose it's inevitable that their frequency will increase as I get older,  and my peer group ages alongside me.  It makes you consider your own mortality, and prompts a resolve to use the days left to you more wisely.  But somehow you never do, preferring to think there's still enough time left.   The death of an elderly uncle is easier to bear. It's possible to reflect on a long life, well lived,  To remember the fun you had when you were small, How he made you shriek until you were breathless,  To consider the grace of his faith, which eased his end.  The death of my sunny, fun-filled friend Is much harder to balance. We are all too aware She had too few years to enjoy her joyful take on life,  Will miss out on too many evenings full of laughter,  No longer guide her grandchildren into adulthood. Both deaths celebrated as a release from pain.  Both lives celebrated as lives lived well.  We carry their memories home with us,   To
Read more

Dont go to India

I wrote this after a toilet stop in the way from Jaipur to Varaneeshya.  Don't go to India  not if you worry about squatting over a hole in the ground, with no running water. not if you worry about hawkers thrusting their wares in your face, "300, 200, 100 only". not if you worry about children caked in street filth, tugging at your sleeve, your heart. not if you worry about rubbish, plastic bottles, bags, packaging, strewn across the streets. But if you can make peace with all that  you will find beauty wherever you look. ©  Copyright 2023. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved
Read more

Do you have a preference?

Whenever I'm asked 'which do you prefer?' I usually say 'I don't mind,  whichever is easier' - because I hate to cause extra work for anyone! But of course,  I do have preferences.  Today's poem is thanks to an idea from Elizabeth Boquet, who by the way is a great poet to follow (elizabethboquet.com). I prefer modern fiction to classical  I prefer cats who curl up on your lap I prefer the smell and taste of coffee I prefer it decaffeinated nowadays.   I prefer blues and greens,  turquoise and teal above all other colours I prefer men with blue eyes I prefer white flowers.  I prefer walking through woods, alone  or with the one I love I prefer the journey to the destination I prefer a slightly cloudy sky.   I prefer to Lindt chocolate to Cadbury's I prefer custard creams I prefer mince pies to Christmas pudding I prefer vegetarian to vegan. I prefer to avoid conversations about politics unless I know we all are lefties,  and are unlikely to fall out - I
Read more