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Where the smell of a bonfire takes me
by Julie AdamsJanuary 12, 2010
Wandering like a womble
I trudge through the fresh duvet of snow,
lens poised between red fingertips
wide-eyed and hungry, quiet hunter
on the hillsides I left behind;
my childwise eyes recall random minutia,
a bramblewood of this microcosm I knew—
all else memory sacrificed
to the flicker of the burning bonfire—
it’s scent still lures me, down any wooded path.
Familiarity is found in a neighboring village,
a brick-red berry cluster in the snow-draped holly bush,
every sweet shop, stone church, post box, and narrow lane
encased by frosted hedge-lined fields, wooly livestock grazing.
Like thr dark Guinness steeped woodwork of a farm pub,
like chip shops, curry houses, and cups of tea,
how they permeate in me. And for
dessert, I savor
each morsel of nostalgia,
like the tingle of a sugar-crusted cola cube
This sweet train—a vision of heritage—rumbles on
through the countryside, down into my child-side
where mossy hills of memory
one by one succumb to
. erosion . drought .
. chalk .
. dust .
like that white horse
carved upon the open hillside.
03/01/2011 Author's Note: (revised 6/19)
Posted on 03/02/2011
Copyright © 2025 Julie Adams
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Tom Goss on 03/02/11 at 07:32 PM First of all, don't change the title, you nailed it, because then the poem delivers on that promise in spades. I do enjoy savoring your finely-crafted verse. Wonderful use of form, especially the last stanza, which is superb, from "This sweet train.." to "drought, chalk, dust" to the image of the white horse - the culmination there is totally poemgasmic. ;) |
| Posted by Linda Fuller on 03/03/11 at 11:16 PM I like this poem very much and think your working title is excellent. Smells are so very evocative, aren't they? |
| Posted by Chris Sorrenti on 03/05/11 at 03:29 PM Great reminder of how a smell can be so universal and personal at the same time in its evoking of memory and creating new ones. Congrats on hitting No. 1 jewels. |
| Posted by Clara Mae Gregory on 03/05/11 at 10:27 PM You are a brilliant writer, Jewels....I enjoy reading all your work and this one especially. EXCELLENT!!!I LOVE your descriptive imagery-it is fantastic. |
| Posted by Britt Zimmerman on 03/06/11 at 04:13 AM Wow! It has been forever since I have checked out poetry on this site and yours did not disappoint. Beautiful poem! |
| Posted by Joe Cramer on 03/06/11 at 08:48 PM ... excellent..... |
| Posted by Morgan D Hafele on 05/25/11 at 01:32 PM this took me back to days of camping and the hikes that surrounded it. awesome. |
| Posted by Kristina Woodhill on 06/15/11 at 04:48 PM Such fine writing - mesmerizing - I want to go to this place. There is the deep richness of images married to time's changes, all given to us in the photographer's eye, the poet's detail. |
| Posted by Uriel Tovar on 07/17/14 at 10:30 PM congratulations on potd well deserved. |
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