Week 49 words from @jennifer_atyrrell: smoke, tears, gum, grey and golden.

the bush is alight

the gum trees are on fire

the animals are fleeing

their paws burning on scorched earth

their feathers melting in molten sky

the sun is no longer golden

the mountain wears a shawl of smoke

a choking mist of grey

ash falls from the heavens

a hundred miles away

our hands are burning

our tears are falling

our world is burning

we are burning

and in our hands -

the match we struck

~~~~

Here are the words and my poem for the forty-ninth week of the 2019 Poetry Challenge.

This is my first attempt at writing this poem. When I say first attempt I mean this is the result of the first idea I had for this poem. There were lots of scribbles and false starts to get to this point.

After writing it I had another idea, inspired by this piece by Emilie Collyer. I was very drawn to the way in which she juxtaposed her cancer with a political figure. Unfortunately I'm still figuring out how to make the idea work.

If you want to join the 2019 Poetry Challenge, head on over to my Instagram account (@indraniperera) where I post the words for the week on Mondays (mostly) in my story. Write a poem and post it. Be sure to tag me and use the hashtags #livepoetsclub and #2019poetrychallenge. 

If you don't want to write a poem, you can still be part of the 2019 Poetry Challenge. Send me five random words and I'll use them in a poem. Either DM me on Instagram with the words or send me an email (indrani at indraniperera dot com).

Happy writing!