Poem: "Funkenzwangsvorstellung"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem was an extra written while awaiting prompts for the October 15, 2024 Bonus Fishbowl. It fills the "Autumn" square of my 10-1-24 card for the Fall Fest Bingo. It has been sponsored by janetmiles. This poem belongs to the series A Poesy of Obscure Sorrows and follows "Gobo."


"Funkenzwangsvorstellung"
the primal trance of watching a campfire in the dark


There is something
mesmerizing about
the flicker of flames
in a firepit at night.

The swirling of smoke
and dancing orange glow
seem almost alive.

They make familiar faces
look like strange masks
from some primal past,

breathe fresh meaning
into old campfire tales.

The more you gaze into
the flames, the more you see,
and the more your ears open
to the sounds of the night.

Every autumn, the call
quickens again, and even
those who live indoors for
the rest of the year will
venture outside and
seek out a campfire.

Something in us hungers
for this particular warmth
and the living light it gives,
that sustained our ancestors
throughout the Ice Age.

It wakes in us a memory,
a historic urge to do again
the things they once did --

to gather around a firepit
with friends and family,

to roast vegetables and
animal flesh over the flames,

to swing a lit stick through
the air in glowing streaks,

to draw on the walls
with a bit of charcoal,

to tell the stories of
what has gone before.

Our ancestors may
be gone, but by firelight
they live again in us.

Every campfire is
a time machine, and
all you have to do
to travel back in time

is to strike a spark.

* * *

Notes:

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig, p. 33. Simon & Schuster, 2021.

This comes after "Gobo."