Stirred, but not Shaken

Day 9: 'the prompt for today takes its inspiration from Pablo Neruda, the Chilean-born poet and Nobel Prize Winner. While he is most famous in the English-speaking world for his collection Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, he also wrote more than two hundred odes, and had a penchant for writing sometimes-long poems of appreciation for very common or mundane things. You can read English translations of “Ode to the Dictionary” at the bottom of this page, “Ode to My Socks” here, and “Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market” here.  Today, we’d like to challenge you to write your own ode celebrating an everyday object.'

No pressure then!


Stirred, but not Shaken


This teaspoon, chosen with its companions
As part of an inheritance,

Tipped from its regimented, mahogany box

Where every item knew its place

To find a humbler home in the  jumble of a drawer,
Sits,  slightly tarnished,  but with either end
Rubbed shiny from regular use. 
It knows itself to be essential
For the weekly measure of yeast
Without which no bread could rise,  
The several times daily alchemy 
Of stirring and mixing the water, coffee, milk.
It knows its bowl is just the perfect size
For furkling about in tight corners, to reach
The last spoonful of peanut butter from the jar's neck,
Its shaft the handiest tool to slip between the top and lid
Of a tin of Tate and Lyle syrup. 
This teaspoon knows,  in its heart of Sheffield steel, 
Its usefulness has forged its place in the world outside its box. 

© Copyright 2024. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved

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