October winds harried me homeward. Even the night, thick with menace seemed to join the headlong throng. A lull then sudden surge urging footsteps to a foxtrot tempo. I'm in no rush. But soon the chase is taken up again. A brown glass bottle animates. Lifts a rim from out the gutter unstoppered, burps the dregs with beery breath and blows a jugband to the tune of wind. Solitary, hollow, bluesy notes then like a topsy-turvy drunk comes clunking after me over and over down the hill stopping still beneath my feet. In the lamplight, winks, glints, a stray, not wanting to be left. ii On a warm windowsill, some summer flowers are supping from the bottle. A small simple spray, clutched at the neck. The long, brown body half-filled again pledged with water from the garden tap and through the opaque glass, sunlight casts a pleasing, amber shade.
For her Poetics prompt ‘Bottled Poetry‘ Grace asks us to write a poem about a bottle!
PoetryPix 
So different, yet the bottle may be the same. Love the juxtaposition between the two.
could be read as two different experiences
I loved this tale of the bottle and its journey–so vivid, the wind, its burping 🙂, and it’s new life as a vase.
rarely do I make the inanimate animate but the bottle came alive of its own accord
That makes it even more magical, Laura!
I like the personification of the burping bottle, the alliterative ‘burps / beery breath / blows a jugband’, and the way it ‘like a topsy-turvy drunk / comes clunking’ and ‘ winks, glints, / a stray, not wanting to be left’. It made me feel sad. But then I cheered up, knowing that the bottle had found a new, more beautiful life as a vase!
everything seemed animate – the night, the wind which in turn gave life to the bottle – glad you felt the emotions Kim
Thank you, Laura!
This is exquisitely drawn, Laura! I especially love; “Solitary, hollow, bluesy notes then like a topsy-turvy drunk comes clunking after me over and over down the hill.” 💜💜💜
thank you Sanaa – you picked up on all the sounds
I adore the sounds in the poem specially bluesy notes with topsy-turvy drunk. I love the contrast of images between the first part of the bottle, and the second part of the poem, amber shaped bottle. There is a gentleness with the second part, being filled up with water for the summer flowers.
a contrast of lives being led – thank you for the prompt Grace – it stretched my imagination!
I like the separation of the second part. It took me by pleasant surprise. Surreal, I felt a tinge of nostalgia as the bottle with the flowers. Your poem could be a very solid metaphor for what recovery is like. Going from the dregs to living a simple life.
“A small simple spray, clutched at the neck.
The long, brown body half-filled again
pledged with water from the garden tap”
the metaphor is very potent and also you picked up on ‘pledged’ which is very telling – seen through your feedback the second verse becomes even more meaningful – thank you Melissa
Oh, this is so interesting. Two separate stories… so vividly told. I love the imagery you used… superb! An amazing take on the prompt!
thank you Miriam – the bottle evidently had a story to tell!
Love the mixing of the tangible and intangible here: sensory imagery fraught with emotion, like memory.
as always Dora – I appreciate your insightful feedback
Gifts from the universe. (K)
thought provoking!
It is interesting how some things just call to you and make your pick them up. This is a really well written story/poem. I like that the bottle was repurposed with flowers!
indeed Dwight – the inanimate evidently can speak to us
I love the happy ending, second life (or third) for the brown beer bottle. I have one like it that I pulled out of the lake and that is now a favorite vase.
hard to throw away bottles let alone not to rescue them for just such as you did