True Hunger Poem by Tom Billsborough
True Hunger
Hunger makes dreams.
Themes constantly recreate
Images that revolve
In my mind's kaleidoscope.
Last night I wandered down a street
Composed entirely of chocolate:
Dark for the brickwork,
Milk for the roofs and sills,
White for the mortar and the drains.
The windows, dull, opaque
However had the appearance of cling-film.
I had a sudden sense of terror,
Wondering what witch lurked under cover
In her sweet abode
Thinking me much to her taste.
I strode onwards to a new horizon
Where a field of poppies clothed my fear
And the street behind melted into oblivion.
If hunger brought the image on,
It was a momentary pang.
And later on I thought how trivial my fear
When I consider those whose dreams
Must circle round a bowl of rice,
Clutching at the entrails of despair,
Those who live each day
In the awful grip of hunger.
let me get back to you on this. have read it once and some of the commenting. ;) bri
Thanks, Bri. I would appreciate your honest opinion very much. Tom
So well done and imaginative. You've evil ones allot in these lines and brought the poem full circle at the end to the rice bowl. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Pamela. It was certainly weird. but I hope I made senses of it and maybe learned a lesson. Not to be self-absorbed like the witch in Hansel & Gretel and think of the wider world.
Thanks Annette. I want a dream where I eat lots of Chocolate and don't feel one tiny bit sick. Maybe if I sit down in the evening and try to put a spell on my bag of Maltesers. What do you think?
Hello Tom. Maybe it was your conscience telling you that too much choccy is not good for you and the poppies and what they stand for is the outcome. It does make you think though when we can dream of such things and there are thousands out there looking for the next crust of bread. A fine poem Tom to make you ponder. Poppy.
Hi Poppy, I think the poppies was a thank God for that moment! Just happen to be my favourite flowers, though I follow your thought on that point. It could even be a conscience thing as, last Autumn I forgot to disturb the earth in my poppy area. Result, no poppies this year! It's difficult to interpret. It was unusually for me a technicolour dream. I think mainly it was food guilt as the dream leading into this one was about me trying to buy a Turkey on Xmas Day! So the food link was there too. It's not often I recall dreams with such clarity. I think the only other one to come out as a poem was me stuck in one of the roughest Arrondissments of Paris. Might submit it elsewhere!
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/28/2024 11:21:24 AM # 1.0.0.1119
Tom, this is a fantastic poem, BUT.......DON'T we ALL have this poem once a week at least? well, sometimes it is licorice, not chocolate. i remember when i was a kid, the 1950s, that i sometimes heard 'people in China are starving'. well, that may have been the case for some of them and still is for some humans. i don't keep track. i DO know i've encountered [and sometimes donated; 'rightfully' or 'wrongly'] people in northern California who portray themselves as needing help. money, food, etc. i once gave a woman a roll of toilet paper i had in the car. and a snack. she thanked me. I strode onwards to a new horizon Where a field of poppies clothed my fear And the street behind melted into oblivion. ...............i believe some of the locals here also seek relief in drugs. this is a fine poem which i meant to get back to, as i said in my earlier comment. BUT, for some unknown reason [old age creeping up; having to answer so many messages from YOU (and sending replies to YOU) , a bowl of ice cream waiting for me? ] i never did. i apologize and especially am sorry, as i meant to put it into the August Showcase, but now i feel it is too late. i SHALL PUT IT INTO THE SEPTEMBER Section A showcase today, ASAP! first i have to go to the bathroom. also, this goes to MyPoemList. bri :)
After at I'd better set up an Ice-cream Factory opposite your house! You, of course, would have a free pass. You know, I have this guy, same name as yours coincidentally, who sends me loads of messages.Can't get on with my kniitting! Still, he's got such a great sense of humour, it's a whole lot of fun. an