Poetry Stretch Results - February Inspired Image

This week's challenge was to write a poem to accompany this image. The photograph was taken by Mark Knobil, a freelance video/film photographer from Pittsburgh. The image is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.

Here are the poems inspired by this photo.

cloudscome at a wrung sponge shares a haiku.

Diane Davis gives us an untitled piece.

sister AE at Having Writ gives us a limerick.

Laura Purdie Salas also shares a haiku.

For me, this photograph got me thinking about eating the same thing day in and day out, which led to some thoughts about single life and Ramen Noodles.

I Had It Good

I shudder when I pass them in the market,
the Ramen Noodles and Mac & Cheese,
sometimes even peanut butter.

I wonder how I made it through the
weeks and months on cheap food,
sleepless nights, and days upon days
in front of wide-eyed kids,
wondering if I was doing it right.

I entered adulthood
earning $8000 a year,
living in a tiny space, made larger
only by the Murphy bed.
Exactly one mile from school,
I walked when the snow wasn't
blinding or deep.

My window looked out on the zoo
just across the street.
In the dead of winter
over howling winds,
I could still hear the elephants trumpet
and lions roar,
so far from their homes.

See those yams? They remind me of
Ramen Noodles. Do you think
those women ever hate
that which nourishes them?
Get tired of it? Regret not having more?
I did. But those yams,
baking in the sun,
feeding the hungry,
remind me how good I had it,
even when it didn't feel that way.

It's not too late if you want to play. Take a look at the image and see what it inspires. Leave me a comment about your poem and I'll add it to the list.