You lost your tiny mind
and the hot blood of night
was a painful cure.
The dark satellite
of a world that’s dead
to you offers only
a corpse and the cold ashes
of a burnt out heart.
Salome’s breakfast platter
offers a selection of fresh fruit,
eggs over easy
and a prophet’s severed head.
Kim M. Russell, 4th November 2018
My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Camera FLASH 55! also linked to Poets United Poetry Pantry
Kerry says it’s time to strike a pose with our photographic challenge for November; this challenge comes with a wide angle and any filter of our choosing.
As an added extra to this challenge, we may write a Flash 55 inspired by the photograph, or on a subject of our choice. I’ve taken a poem I wrote back in 2016 and rewritten it as a Flash 55.
writing in north norfolk 
That breakfast platter! Would it be all right if I took some bread instead of the head? Oh, wait! I’ll have fruit instead. 🙂
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😊
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Woe to the prophets, their visions are maddening and dooms roundly ignored. No wonder the “ho blood of night” is a solace and Salome’s breakfast tray a delight. Curious to compare with the original, could you reply with a link to the original?
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I’ll do that shortly, Brendan.
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Here it is! https://writinginnorthnorfolk.com/2016/03/18/dark-satellite/
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Thanks – I like this version much better, relieved of death metal. Poetry is too old for headbanging cures …
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Thanks, Brendan, for asking. I actually like both versions (but then, I’m a heavy metal fan) and think they stand as equal-but-different.
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This is so incredibly powerful, Kim. The tone is half sardonic, half cautionary and ever so apt for the times. I loved it.
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Thank you, Kerry.
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Ha, I would take the fresh fruit and the eggs and pass on the head! Yikes, this poem woke me up!
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We will.have to smile at Salome’s unhealthy appetite for head decorations instead of flowers. So you’ve counted four so far. Really she is the only one we know though the ISIS follow suit without royal fan fare. I loved your take, lots of insight in thesession twelve lines.
..
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Thank you, Jim
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I am glad I dont eat breakfast, if it comes thus decorated. Smiles.
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😊
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You had me at the opening. Such a wonderfully potent write, Kim! ❤️
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Thanks Sanaa! 💟
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Delicious. And word perfect. This is brilliant!
(and how it does my heart a light song, for I adore the nuances, the complexity, the layers) …. this is truly a well fashioned and very clever poem Kim – and I just adore it. So well …. executed for the tightness of a 55! Brava!
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Thank you so much, Pat!
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This is excellent… no comfort for Salome with a prophet’s head…
I find the story most fascinating ever since I saw the Opera Salome …
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Thank you, Bjorn. I haven’t yet had the opportunity to see the opera. I love Oscar Wilde’s and Carol Ann Duffy’s versions of the story.
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The Opera by Richard Strauss is a fantastic thing…
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lost mind and a lost head – falling in love can be so dangerous especially when unrequited – nice light touch at the end there by contrast with the eggs over easy
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Thank you, Laura.
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Wicked Salome! Love the ref to John the Baptist…we all seemed to have gone there. Good one!
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Thanks Viv!
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🙂
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What a breakfast tray! I am glad mine is consistently oatmeal. this is a superb write Kim. Excellent wordsmithing.
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Thank you, Toni!
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Ewww! Delightfully ghoulish.
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🙂
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I just love that opening line. It makes me think of Beetlejuice. 🙂
Excellent, engaging poem.
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Thanks Shawna. 😊
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Awesome….maybe a slightly sarcastic poem? Loved it.
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Thanks Chrissa!
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A clever intermingling of intensity and droll fantasy in this intriguing and impactful piece.
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Thank you, Wendy.
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This cuts right to the bone, pun intended.
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🙂
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Sounds like my breakfast this morning, apart from the head of course.
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🙂
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I enjoyed the grim humor. Great piece.
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Thank you, Nitin.
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Thats a dark serve up.
Have a good week Kim
Much🎶🖤🎶love
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Thank you, Gillena! Much love to you 💟
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Who of us have not lost our head, at least once? Love your poem.
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Thank you, Annell.
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