keeping that spark

he deliberately chose
the nastiest
sound for the alarm clock


and there it went
Every four hours. Announcing that he
had to start the
engine again lest he
froze to death

The phone had 17% battery left. He
would need to visit
the library again
for a recharge but it was becoming
harder as the smell of homeless
was growing more
potent on him

He checked the time again
turned off the phone
turned on the engine
wiped the windshield with his gloved hand
watched his breath leave his mouth
fumbled around for a cigarette

no luck

He took out the lighter and
struck it
and all it produced were sparks

It's been quite a lot of
no luck

At the library he took small
with him to a desk and pretended
to be studying them
while the phone charged besides
but not having anything
better to do he
read some of the poems in
those chapbooks. He didn't understand
poetry, didn't know
how to read it to
make sense. He was simply not
a man of writing and reading,
didn't understand why
the lines were so choppy
and didn't go all the way
to the right margin of the page. Why did it
have to look so
intentionally wrong? Also
why didn't it rhyme if
it was called poetry? He resigned himself
eventually. He'll never understand
this part of literature

but still, there was
he read in one of those deranged
verses with words all
over the page. One poem that
ended something like this:

"then something else in me said, no, save the tiniest
it needn’t be much, just a spark.
a spark can set a whole forest on
just a spark.
save it."

His English wasn't the
best but he
understood the message well enough

the spark was

38 thoughts on “keeping that spark

Add yours

    1. This one was all inspired by good ol’ Bukowski •ᴗ•

      Not to mention that the lines the character read in some chapbook in the library are straight out from one of his poems 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  1. Love your stuff, DR Bogdan, here’s something of me,

    Inspiration (for me) is what triggers the heart,
    Then the mind awakens and millions of fingers begin to dance,
    Flight of the Bumblebee on my keyboard.

    The thrill of keeping up is exhilarating . . . and a little absurd.

    Liked by 1 person

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