Paint Chip Poetry #3: A Big Mistake

Candlelight flickers, casting a halo of light

Into the darkness around me.

I shiver lightly, goosebumps forming on my skin.

What memory will I stumble upon next?

I wander through the mystical realm of my imagination

A wide open land of endless opportunities 

I peer into the distance 

and see a snow-capped mountain peak,

The outline of its form creating

a wishbone of indigo

Against the obsidian sky beyond.

No, no more cold and darkness tonight. 

I need sunshine.

Warmth.

Happiness.

I scan through the snapshots in my mind,

turning the pages of photo albums of memories,

some vibrant,

some faded,

until

I land on an image of a sunny, summer day.

Ah, yes, this is more like it.

I relish the taste

of fresh-squeezed lemonade on my tongue,

The syrupy sweet and tart, sour flavors mingling

With the faded taste of my strawberry bubblegum

that has become stiff and stale.

Still, I’m too stubborn to spit it out.

The sunshine warms my skin,

And a feeling of lazy contentment

washes over me.

Until

I look down and notice 

the grass stains

On my new white shorts.

---

My words this round (once I had arranged them into some kind of order) were:
in the dark, mystical, obsidian, candlelight, halo, mountain peak, wishbone, indigo, relish, fresh-squeezed, strawberry, and grass stain.

The prompt card said “A Big Mistake.”

This one was quite a challenge, but then again it seems like they always are. How was I going to tie together words like “fresh-squeezed” and “obsidian” into a poem that tells a complete story?

I chose to structure this one as a trip through my memories and imagination, which often leads me in very random, seemingly disjointed directions. I tried to convey the concept of selective memory, and how sometimes the way we remember things isn’t exactly how it happened in real time. For example, I can think back fondly on a day spent swimming with friends when I was a kid, and at the same time conveniently forget about the horrible sunburn I earned as a result.

I hope you enjoyed this one!

Check out my Paint Chip Poetry blog posts here:

Paint Chip Poetry

Paint Chip Poetry #2: Blank Canvas