#Derangedsnowman Contest
The Deranged Snowman
Marooned on foreign land, his heart had turned to ice
and the snowed upon man could only blame the weather
Immigrant, militant, belligerent they cried
when he tried to blend in with other snowmen
The children pelted him with snowballs, hard as hate
while their shameless pets treated him like a frozen fire hydrant
Worst of all, were the month-long Christmas carols —-
an incessant din that kept him from sinking into thinking
He felt like a preposterous imposter
feigning passions that were not his own
Instead of the forced hilarity and dreaded sentimentality of this holiday season
the estranged iceman pined for the solitary melancholy of his desert home
Rather than further endure his lamentable predicament:
insufferable scarf, clownish carrot nose and unseeing button eyes
He longed to feel burning sand beneath his naked feet
and lusted after the sun’s hot kiss on his bare face
Deeper still, he was haunted by hermit dreams,
with the mystical words of Rumi echoing in his ears:
Be melting snow
Wash yourself of yourself.
©Yahia Lababidi
For more information about @Carlgnash’s deranged contest : https://steempeak.com/@carlgnash/derangedsnowman-contest-or-275-steem-3500-creative-coin-prize-pool
I love your imagery in this one, and the final line by Rumi; perfection.
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Thank you, for your appreciation
_/|\_It was an evocative prompt, deranged snowman, and kept me up writing in the small hours of the morning. Strange, what comes up...
The human mind is an amazing and wonderful tool. ;-)
Yes, and a mysterious one :)
A masterful extended metaphor Yahia, sealed with a quote from Rumi as profound as it is relevant to the subject of the poem.
Sometimes I feel a little like the snowman in your poem
wishing I was swimming
tropical seas
Diving reefs
rather than sneezing
in the pound store
trying to ignore
Christmas music
Behind the roar
Of my MP3 player.
Ha ha, the commercial aspects of the festive season have always got me down. Out in a snowy cabin with a warm fire, good food and drink and friends... that's a Christmas I could enjoy ⛄
Hah, Raj, would you believe I was thinking of you, earlier, today — you must have overheard me, telepathically.
Thank you, for your thoughtful appreciation & poetic response.
I’m not entirely my snowman, but it had to come from somewhere...
Glad it works & resonates with you, too. Perhaps, as Rumi suggests, we’re strangers, here, there, everywhere —- Longing for Home.
Hope your holidays are merry and on your own terms 🙏🏼
Thanks for the Christmas wishes Yahia.
So often the way, a small amount of what leaks out of us in writing (poetry especially) is us, the rest of it who knows... the muse... the universe... inspiration... god, whatever the label, it is the result that matters IMO :)
Who knows is right, dear Rowan :o
Milosz said it well in "Ars Poetica"
The purpose of poetry is to remind us
how difficult it is to remain just one person,
for our house is open, there are no keys in the doors,
and invisible guests come in and out at will.
What I'm saying here is not, I agree, poetry,
as poems should be written rarely and reluctantly,
under unbearable duress and only with the hope
that good spirits, not evil ones, choose us for their instrument.
Ah Yahia you deranged desert snowman :) It certainly casts those words by Rumi in a new light, to envision an actual snowman contemplating them. I hope there isn't too much of yourself in the snowman, Christmas season sounds like torture!
I am honored my little contest lit a fire under your snowy balls ;) Much love brother
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 25/35 - need recharge?)
‘A fire under my snowy balls’ is a delish, Gnashian way of putting it 🤣
There’s some of me in this, sure (having experienced my first proper hate crime in 13 years, stateside)
But, f*ck it all, sideways —- the fun (of writing & being here, Steemit & US) outweighs the pain... so there!
Cheers, dear brother @carlgnash & thanks for being seriously playful —- you inspire me
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Hey Yahia I just learned about an initiative from OCD / @acidyo focused on sharing Steem posts on Twitter, which you already do (and did so with this post)! Use the #posh tag (for Proof Of SHare) on your posting if you are sharing it on Twitter, and OCD is curating the tag and giving larger votes if content is shared on Twitter. Thought you should know :)
https://steempeak.com/posh/@acidyo/proof-of-sharing-posh
Many thanks, for this link, Carl :) Yes, I've been doing this more, lately, and just stumbled upon #posh tag, but was not fully aware how to use it.
Will read @acidyo's post, now, and ever grateful to you/OCD
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Shared on twitter as part of @ocd , @ocdb #posh initiative: https://twitter.com/yahialababidi/status/1204399314509938688