Promptly Poetry Challenge 2022-23

Inn rules [Week 7 entry]

Inn rules


The old inn was rustic and quaint,
the small room comfortable and clean.
The price was perfect, too.
The cost for that price - a single rule:
Full milk jugs are traded for old ones which must be empty;
waste results in a double price. Drink your milk promptly
and return the mug to the hallway.

Half-timbered walls glow pink in the new sun
and the inn greets the dawn as,
in a bed, eyes fly open, then the door.
The half-dreamt knock explains the mug in the hallway;
the innkeeper's frown tells the time.


   Hooves on the pavement
   proclaim new jugs approaching -
   milk drops in his beard



Prompt / Form Note ▶︎

Prompt: Write a poem about a guilty pleasure. Chose "Drinking juice or milk directly from the carton", although I stretched it a bit.
Form Note: A haibun (combination of prose and haiku).