Lions Clubs around the world exist to raise funds to help those in need; Guy Fawkes’ intention was to raise the House of Lords in London up high with the help of gunpowder. Twenty years ago our poet Derek Adams picked up a leaflet for the Castle Point Lions Poetry Competition at the Southend Poetry Group. Today is November 5th 2024 and he recalls big bonfires with flames that flew like red hair in the wind. It is Day 702 of the Daily Poems.
Hot potato
Did you ever go to one of those
November parties where
there’s a big bonfire
with flames that fly
like red hair in the wind
and they put potatoes
wrapped in tinfoil
around the edge?
By the time they are cooked
you are drunk and
the one you hooked
rolls at your feet,
too hot to touch –
but you want it,
so you tear at the foil
which has started to cool,
pull at the potato’s skin
because the wine
and hunger combine
to make your senses dim.
Next day,
you check lips and finger tips
for small blisters,
nothing visible
but there is an itch,
a tenderness,
just beneath the surface.
Derek Adams
published: Castle Point Lions Comp. Anthology 2004