sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Poetry Friday: Summer Smells

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It’s Friday, which means it’s time for Poetry Friday – the first one for 2017 and my first one for a while, having had a busy end to 2016. My resolution for 2017 is to smile more, but I’m also thinking this means I should be trying to make other people smile, so I am going to try to share more poetry this year.

It’s Summer here in Australia, which means trips to the beach, swims in the pool, beautiful blue skies – I could go on. I love summer. But one thing I don’t like is the smell of rubbish bins left out in the sun. On one of my recent beach trips I stopped to put something in the bin. The smell when I lifted the lid was gross: bait, food, rubbish of all kinds. It was like the worst belch ever. It reminded me of this poem, which I wrote a few years back.

Smelly Sentry

Green soldier
standing tall
and alone.
Closed up
you seem so harmless
but still
I approach with caution.
I know
when I lift that lid
your stench
will overpower me
as you belch
last week’s fish
and yesterday’s onions.

 

(Copyright Sally Murphy 2017)

 

Gross hey? Instead of a photo of a stinky bin, I offer you this completely unrelated but pretty awesome video of a dolphin which came to check me out recently. It was a magic moment.

Poetry Friday this week is hosted by Teacher Dance. Head there later for the roundup check out the other poetry goodness on off on the blogosphere.

In the meantime, have a great Friday.

 

Comments

  1. Thank you for sharing a bit of summer, no matter how smelly! It’s snowing here in New England and warm weather is a distant memory. How exciting to have that close encounter with a dolphin!

  2. Happy New Year! Sally! It’s snowing outside now and I sure can use your beach humor! I was on a whale watch once and a whole bunch of dolphins swam alongside the boat for awhile. It was more exciting to me than the whale sighting.

  3. What a great resolution! One that you really don’t want to break 🙂 Enjoy the warmth and the dolphins, and hold your breath around smelly sentries!

    • Thanks Tabatha. I’ve just been sorting my own rubbish, and glad to report nothing as bad as the beach bins.

  4. I love that your resolution is to smile more and to work on creating smiles in others. This poem certainly did that for me. Clever and fun! Thanks for sharing!

  5. In my family we always say that seeing a dolphin brings good luck, so 2017 is going to be awesome for you!

    Your belching rubbish bin is a very clever idea. 🙂

  6. ha! What a great poem! You brought up a memory. I’m American and was traveling in Europe on the front end of a two-year stay. I had so much to learn(still do)! Anyway, as a group of people were lining up to depart a ferry, a dog got sick. Everyone was repulsed and acted the same way regardless of language — my first language lesson.

    Green soldier definitely has universal appeal..er, disgust!

  7. The dolphin is much cuter than the smelly sentry, but your poem did bring a smile. I will think of you enjoying summer while we drive through snow today!

    • STay warm Kay. I am a summer gal through and through, but I do also long to experience snow, just the once 😉

  8. Hi Sally, coming from one degree, your post helps me remember that summer does come here, too! Love the funny poem, the “last week’s fish and yesterday’s onions”. And love your dolphin greeting. I had an experience swimming a couple of years ago. I was swimming parallel to the shore, heard shouting, and looked around and a dolphin was swimming with me. He looked at me and then swam away. I’m sure you felt like I did, a magical moment. Happy Summer!

  10. Oh, your images of summer leave me green with envy, even the stinky garbage cans! We’re shivering through winter here, so I’ll take any glimpse of summer days I can get, especially if it includes curious dolphins!

  12. Ha! Some levity (if a little gross) to greet the new year. Definitely made ME smile, and I love seeing your smiling face each time I visit your blog. :0)
    Wow – such a lovely gift to have a dolphin say hello like that. Thanks for sharing some warm moments from Down Under – we’re all bracing for a cold weekend on this side of the world!

  13. What a wonderful sighting of the dolphin. How clever you were to get your phone out and recording. I love that I can hear you and see your reflection on the water. I like your smelly sentry. Here, it’s cold and sullen winter. It’s lovely to see a bit of summer on my screen.

    • Thanks Brenda. I was lucky – I’d spotted the dolphin furtehr offshore and was trying to record it. Then it spotted me and came over. Stay warm!