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Sally Murphy, Australian author

Poetry Friday: Hot Concrete

by

Happy hoppy Friday. Why hoppy? Because today I’m going to share a poem with a little hopping involved.  Spring has well and truly arrived in my part of the world and this means that, whenever I can get away with it, my shoes are well and truly off. But there are times when one wishes, very much, that the shoes were on – and that’s what my poem is about.

The Hot Concrete Rap

My shoes are there

But I am here

They are too far

They are not near

 

I need those shoes

I need them now

I must fetch them

The problem’s how

 

To get from here

To over there

To fetch those shoes

I need to wear

 

Without the concrete

Hurting me

The hot concrete

That I can see

 

The sun is hot

The ground is too

There’s only one thing

I can do

 

I must hop

From here to there

To get the shoes

I need to wear

 

I hop on left foot

Then on right

I hop hop hop

With all my might

 

My shoes are here

And I am too

And now each foot

Is in its shoe.

(Poem copyright Sally Murphy)

Now,  hop on over to the Poetry Friday Roundup where, coincidentally, Susan has posted a poem about a different kind of hopper.

Comments

  3. How funny that we both wrote about hopping this week. And I can definitely relate to this poem about hot concrete! What fun!

    And happy spring to you! We’re well into fall here. Yesterday, I went outside barefoot to chase away a stray cat from our backyard when I heard our cat yowling. The ground was so cold it burned–and that darn cat didn’t seem impressed by my telling him to leave, but that’s another story.

  6. What a dilemma Sally. I hear it in your words and actions. A poem that expertly shares the tension between bare feet and hot concrete. The short lines add to the urgency implicit in your words. I have no such dilemmas here in Victoria at present. Successive days of grey blanket skies and cool air. Most un-spring ( and uninspiring) like weather for November.

    • Thanks for visiting Alan. I will try to send some sunshine your way – we are heading back into a few more days of intry weather so am hoping you get the spring instead.

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