Almost (a love story)

almost burned her fingers
as she watched a flame consume
a match almost to its end

almost cried at the pain
that didn’t come but the tears were
welcome anyway

almost fell in love with
the man who struck the match that lit
her (almost) last cigarette

almost kissed him on the lips
before the rain dripped from her hair
and mingled with the tears

almost managed to hold on to his
heart but in the end it was too late

Kim M. Russell, 29th April 2020

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My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads NaPoWriMo Day 29 Play it Again in April 2020: This is (almost) the end, as well as Poets and Storytellers United Weekly Scribblings: For certain, it’s enjambment

On Sunday, April 29, 2018, Shay encouraged us by saying that the end was just around the corner. She said that, sometimes, the moment just before the end of something is as poignant as the actual ending and gave us two examples from songs by Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson.

The prompt was to write about almost-endings, that haven;’t happened, but are surely close at hand, in new poems, with no restrictions on length or form.

I’m merging this prompt with Kerry’s Skylover Wordlist, sourced from Dylan Thomas’s poetry collection Deaths and Entrances, from which the twenty-nineth word is ‘match’.

I’m also combining it with Sanaa’s enjambment prompt over at Poets and Storytellers United.

34 thoughts on “Almost (a love story)”

  5. “almost kissed him on the lips before the rain dripped from her hair and mingled with the tears,” this is so achingly beautiful, Kim! I love how you have worked enjambment into today’s prompt 😍😍 Thank you so much for writing! 💜💜

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  6. Oh, I shoulda checked the toadprompts. ‘Almost’ is one of my favorite poetry words. But of course nothing I could have written could possibly compare favorably with your effort here. Great stuff, KR! Hot as a match. Almost hotter. No….hotter!

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  13. So many almosts….it happens like that sometimes. The problem becomes if we spend to much time ruminating on the “what ifs” –
    Great take on the prompt! Hard to believe we only have one more day of April…..I do believe May 1 will be a day of rest! 🙂

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