All that Glitters~For One Shoot Sunday

April 10, 2011

All that Glitters~For One Shoot Sunday

This week's One Shoot Sunday photo prompt at One Stop Poetry is brought to us compliments of L.A based photographer Lauren Randolph. This fantastic photo is only an example of her facinating work, and I only hope my words do it justice. This can be a very intimidating process, but one I am ever so thankful for. Please enjoy...

All that Glitters

All that glitters is not gold

Sometimes it's hot pink against a backdrop of concrete

Where wilted weeds fight to break through cracks

And a chewing gum wrapper meets its fate, ensnared

Sometimes it's a ballon, deflated, denying its self

Weighted down by the water of worry

What goes up, must come down

But you can't be afraid to fly.

Sometimes, it's a lemon drop lollypop

Sparkling in the hand of a diabetic

Sugar rush suicide

But the laws of what is remains

And the temptation to defy gravity

Leaves only the weighted ballon

For the weeds to entangle.

~Natasha Head~

Comments

dustus said…

I love this one, Tasha. Powerful and different from your others in terms of rhyming too. Great opening. Second line caught me off guard. "Sometimes, it's a lemon drop lollypop / Sparkling in the hand of a diabetic"

April 10, 2011 at 12:26 PM

Brian Miller said…

lovely tash...a great message wrapped in a great texture of the descriptions...weed, wrappers...all very nice

April 10, 2011 at 12:46 PM

Anonymous said…

It's perception the makes the value difference between gold and baloons and up and down and I think your poetic but so precide words illustrate that beatifully. Looking at the photo, any eye would choose a different item of value and assign different memories, different associations to it, and this an important context that you've given to what could else be seen as something completely random. But wait,something else! You've also made the balloon a character in the story, and put its hopes and dreams and attempts at either in the context of those watery perceptions. In the end, the baloon seems weighed down my sorrow, but as with perception, the story is not over. And were I speaking to the baloon, I'd say gravity was made to be defied.

April 10, 2011 at 1:14 PM

Fireblossom said…

I'm with Dustus...that line about the lemon drop lolly got me.

April 10, 2011 at 1:27 PM

hedgewitch said…

Very nice--you did a great job of getting over the sweetness and bringing the picture to a truer focus--"..weighted down by the water of worry..." with its whooshing sibilants is a perfect soft buildup to the lollypop line. A most illuminating take on the prompt.

April 10, 2011 at 2:10 PM

Reflections said…

Perceptive piece... powerful message. Stark realities sprinkled in ... love the lemon drop line.

April 10, 2011 at 2:31 PM

Semaphore said…

This poem was love at first sight for me. Beautifully woven contrasts "hot pink"-"concrete", "balloon"-"deflated", "lollypop"-"diabetic" that underscore the theme right from the title and first line.

April 10, 2011 at 5:30 PM

Anonymous said…

Amazing imagery! Starting with hot pink against a backdrop of concrete. Love how the piece flowed into so many different pools of illuminated thought, like lemon drop lollipop. And what a sad thought in the end of a weighted balloon. Dig it!

April 10, 2011 at 5:37 PM

signed...bkm said…

my favourite line was the chewing gum wrapper...and the sugar rush suicide...our temptation to defy gravity...we all seem to try it one way or another...until we are brought back to earth...bkm

April 10, 2011 at 7:17 PM

Beachanny said…

I agree with all the comments above. Very astute and poetic observation of the picture prompt.

April 10, 2011 at 9:43 PM

Rhymetime(aka Pat) said…

Well your wrapped it up just fine
I enjoyed each and every line
You used the picture as a backdrop really well
Very poetic I must tell
But all that glitters is not gold
Damn I wish I was never told
I want the stuff that makes me all nice an rich
Guess Face it Facts will have to cover that itch..LOL

April 11, 2011 at 12:07 AM