Impressions

no sunlight only dead insects

in the bee buzzing summer heat
of my thirteenth year of living
lavender spikes surrounded
an old water butt
neglected by time passing

propped up by broken bricks
within a walled garden
of a lady with no name
her blemish free skin
never exposed to sun

and whose eager eyes were
ever watchful
over a garden overgrown
where floral scents wafted in
through net curtains breezy

intoxicating so heady
from flower beds once tended
i borrowed a cracked ceramic jug
striped kitchen blue and white
to collect rainwater

to rinse the soapy shampoo
from my shoulder length hair
it will bring out the sunlight
in strands of silken gold she said
and foolishly I believed her

Reviews

[Jess Morton]

Love how captivating the first line is. Great poem

[Chris Shaw]

Thank you Jess for stopping by. Pleased you enjoyed my poem. Have a lovely day.

Chris

[Fabian G. Franklin]

This is funny in a cruel sort of way. I think if you must use rainwater it ought to be filtered at least or boiled before drinking if it didn't just fall from the sky. I have an urn in my flower garden that I'm forced to empty with every rain to keep mosquitoes from raising their brood in it. I knew a woman who would wash her hair in beer because she said it fed her roots. I asked her why she didn't just drink the beer and she wouldn't care if her roots were fed or not. (she didn't appreciate my wry humor) They had a shampoo called Herbal Essence once. It smelled like marigolds and insecticide. I'll stick with my Aussie Moist. I like the smell of it. An interesting and entertaining read, Chris, I enjoyed.

[Chris Shaw]

Hello Fabian. I appreciate that you found the humour here. Yes I was a bit naive at 13. I didn’t appreciate the insects. I have heard about beer being good for the hair too. I prefer drinking it though lol. Thanks for a nice review. All the best.

Chris

[Stella Armour]

I thought of Miss Havisham for some reason , and i was also told that rainwater softened your hair if you rinsed with it., maybe it would attract the sunlight then ?
the description and imageery are just lovely of an neglected garden and i can smell and imagine the mystique of it ..

[Chris Shaw]

Thank you Stella. Pleased you enjoyed this piece of nostalgia. I didn’t appreciate that the water was unfiltered. I can only think about the insects now lol. Have a lovely Thursday.

Chris

[nadia dmitri]

This imagery and diction is so welldone, it really paints a vivid picture of a buzzing and hot summer day. Amazing work :)

[Chris Shaw]

Many thanks Nadia for a lovely encouraging review. I appreciate you. All the best.

Chris