A First Step

The minimal neatness of the lines

The clean simplicity of black on white

The happy-inducing perfume of gum-wood

They pose the most deceptive invitation.

Come into my world, they say

Wonder-filled, tear-streaked, adventure-soaked

Where your neighbour, daughter, stranger, cousin flash by

Where the exotic tastes familiar, the familiar mysterious

Where meanings overflow in the most mundane.

Come into my world, they say

You will enter and never want to leave

But when you do

You will find your world bathed in a different colour

In a most unsatisfactory hue, an uninviting predictability

And you will call it reality.

For a prompt from Pictures, Poetry & Prose

The flaming orange plays hide and seek

Between the wet earth and dripping leaves

Between the harsh rain and lost sky

Between the bustling raincoats and damp fur

She sits slumped on her perch by the window

Eyes pursuing the vital orange, its energy, its fire

Seeking to ignite something deep in her heart

Hoping to burn away the sloth, the despair, the futility

For a prompt at http://readwritepoem.org/