Hope Untainted

[allmirth]

Hope Untainted

Peppermints and burnt toast
Vicks cough drops and black coffee
Oddly intimate atoms
Odors can recall
Though not recover
That lifetime before
When happiness was a given

[Dew]

a given and taken for granted. I can remember being blind and naive and untested too...then off comes the cover...once tainted, hope becomes like what the greeks describe...the most evil thing of all - dew

[gooseberry]

You know,you've really captured the essence of hope here.The peppermints and burnt toast are the treat and the mistake,we can take that and see the sunny side or the cloudy side.Such a lot said in relatively few words,fine work indeed my friend!!

[ladymaybebaby]

Hey mirthy,

Good to read you again! Always amazing how a few short lines can put so much imagery into my mind. Even in this case the smells are so familiar you were able to tap into my sense of smell and as well. So much said when you mention the ' peppermints and burnt toast' and in the next line you've gone to ' cough drops and black coffee'. Quite the different morning senarios... A really great write! Again, great to read you!

-LMB
xoxo

[moe]

I read your piece allmirth, it's very good. However I am really happy you're back. I hope you stay with us a good long time
Bienvenue mon amie

[moe]

I read your piece allmirth, it's very good. However I am really happy you're back. I hope you stay with us a good long time
Bienvenue mon amie

[moe]

I read your piece allmirth, it's very good. However I am really happy you're back. I hope you stay with us a good long time
Bienvenue mon amie

[flux]

Hi, the minimalist style of this poem is its strength. The few but carefully selected details and that line in the middle, ' Oddly intimate atoms' made me love this poem.

[Baywriter]

Great to read you again. I love this. I was actually thinking about this the other day, the strength of the sense of smell, how it triggers memories and takes us back to another life. You expressed this in such a minimal, wonderful way. You brought the reader right into the stark sadness of it. It's hard to be reminded of what was once something wonderful, something we'll never get back again. In an odd way, aroma does this to us, almost gives us a sort of out-of-body experience. Really well-penned. Please keep sharing with us. I've missed your work!

Bay

[cafeboy]

A short and wistful write. Just like a hint of a memory. I found the smells well chosen. The sweet and the bitter.

[allmirth]

Hello to all my friends and fellow poets,

Thanks so much for your warm welcome back and you kind and encouraging comments. I hope to really find my way back here soon in a more active sense. I do miss this place, the people and poetry.

Mirthy

[trell11]

I'm back too, I remember you. Love this simple yet complex poem about the senses and I associate it with how we first feel when we discover new things and they being us happiness. But then as time wears on we become accustomed and take for granted the little things like smelling a hot cup of coffee. Good write my friend and welcome back.

[Dew]

Looking up at your comments...looks like you found your way back! Congrats on the spotlight Myrph! An awesome pick for this week!!! I still find remarkable how this short poem touches something common to all while drilling into the smallest concrete images and largest abstractions...sweeet! - dew

[bandgeekfreak]

Really enjoyable read, I love how you captured hope. Congrats on the spotlight

[tangerinepie]

Hi..Very enjoyable read..it reminded me of all the concoctions I used last week for my head cold..LOL..The last two lines stick with me the most though..Well done and a choice spotlight piece..Tangie..

[candlewitch]

Excellent, Mirthy!!! So glad to see you! (I missed reading your well thought out comments, too!!!

>{^*;*^}<

love ya to pieces, Cat

[Rainman]

Such a discrete and wistful piece. The memory cues of smell and taste immediately make one think of Proust and Swann's Way, and the search for innocence. I like how "untainted" has visual links to "unattained" in the mind's eye.
Nice work!

[garic]

Really, really liked this, I think because I am especially fond of works that reflect on states of human consciousness.

I remember the first time I went skiing in the rockies - awestruck by the face of Lake Louise as the ski lift carried my to the top. While the cold smell of snow in nature can bring the memory back, even if I went to Lake Louise again, I could never recapture the exhilheration of the first time.

[dornicks]

The brevity and theme combine well in this piece to make it worthy of being Spotlighted. Congratulations,

dornicks

[inflames]

I know this feeling. Sometimes I catch a whiff of what I am sure was a version of past me, at some point in time. It's hard to swallow sometimes. Congrats on a well deserved spotlight. This is a very influential and meaningful piece.