Oh beautious fire
Seeking to break
from the TV screen
and to devour
the drapes forever
out of reach.
I feel your pseudo-warmth
and hear your rich
crackling call.
Festive fire
Turned and fed
by the flannel
garbed arm,
you will not harm,
shoot cinders far,
force risk by axe
splitting logs, or
lugging them inside.
My floors are clean
but lack the lingering
scent of cold pine.
Yet still, you remind me
of fires from Christmases past
and fires yet to be.
You are quite festive enough
for me.
(This poem appeared in Runo Päivässä ~ Poem a Day. Turenki, Finland: Kantarelli Publishing. 2014)
Shawn L. Bird 
Hi!
Would you be interested in publishing this poem in our collection “Poems for every day”? The poets get one copy of the book and their picture in the cover of the book. The book will be available in http://www.kanttarellipublishing.com, and several other web-bookstores as well as e-book. Poets retain their copyright.
Kind regards,
Jani Karlsson
Head of publishing
Cabin Books /Kanttarelli Publishing
sure Jani, that’d be fine.
Great! Could you send your address and picture you want to use to Jani@kanttarellipublishing.com, please! The book will be published in summer 2014. Poems, will be mostly in Finnish, but there wil be several English poems as well.
Suomen runoja. Ihana. 😉 I used to write poems in Finnish. I wonder where I stashed that notebook?
Do you know about Leena Niemela? She is a BC poet born in Finland. Her website is http://finnishnessinmycanadiana.wordpress.com/author/finnishnessinmycanadiana/
Love the subtle humor of this one! Merry Christmas to you and yours, Shawn!
Ron
lol. Or not so subtle humour… 😉
This poem brings back memories of my Mom watching the Yule Log on TV channel 11 years ago when I was a child. My mother was mesmerized by this fake log which just sat there like the “Burning Bush” in the Bible, you know burning but never consumed. It was accompanied by Christmas carols. I suppose that was her quiet time. Maybe she was thinking about Christmas past in Dayton, Ohio during the 30s and 40s when she was young. Thank you for the Holiday flashback.
Our log does not play carols. I think they need a channel that does! Sometimes I like the crackle of the fire, but sometimes, I’d like to hear carols. They need 2 fire logs, I think. 😉
Reblogged this on Shawn L. Bird and commented:
As I listen to the fire crackling on the TV, it occurs to me to share this poem from last year… 🙂
I’ve absorbed a lot of heat from log TV ads, and DVD’s, over the years- plus a fair amount of moonlight. 🙂
lol
Awesome!
🙂