Images: Extractions - By Kaelos

Written By: Kaelos

Category: poetry

Competition: Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026

In the evocative poetry piece "Images: Extractions," Kaelos masterfully crafts a narrative rich in imagery and emotion. Submitted under the poetry category, this work is part of the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026. Through vivid and poignant language, Kaelos explores themes of memory, identity, and heritage. The reader is invited into a world where personal history and cultural imagery intertwine in a dance of words and emotions.

About the Work

"Images: Extractions" by Kaelos is a vivid exploration of memory and identity, painting rich imagery through its verses. The poem moves seamlessly through scenes that evoke the sensory experiences of the past, capturing the essence of place and time. Its literary style is both intricate and fluid, weaving a tapestry of emotion and reflection that resonates deeply with the reader. The imagery is striking, drawing on elements of nature and the everyday to convey a profound message about the passage of time and the shaping of identity.

Images: Extractions

Original Submission by Kaelos

Menes: a word meaning seepage

I.

each recess, unlined, at the edge:

an estuary, surface sheened, swirling

gold and indigo, water stains

sticky as the diesel fumes

dries surface, to tacky fields

gather, still rains, layers

sulphur-black mirror

blue mirage, tar lined

grabbing whatever

chances to drink

to bathe, to harvest

chances turn to fossils

greased catalogue of years:

six kilometers, sludge

holding delicate:

scarab’s rusted carapace

corroded canary’s wing

snail shells, vent laced

disarticulated bones and

a child

II.

she finds your infant form

blistering beneath the surface arms mired in tar

she winces, wipes stains

left, maroon-black, gathering dark, a crown spilling

your tiny face

wispy hair, dripping sweet

light shade of gasoline

compare: your own tappings too expensive to refine

into plastic, waxen packagings disposables- jet fuels, kerosene too thick, too asphalt

scarred and graveled, splitting black webs poured to border land stitched, molding

elastic: the stained shape

of daughters

Maracaibo: April 5, 2002

your sulphuric birth

flickering fluorescent

under cold bars

open backed, ivory

her cotton gown, thin

spilled, oil stained

you, between forceps

extracted from Mother

like a pearl tweezed

from an oyster

you emerged pale

from her brown skin

MARACAIBO-IMAGES

you ask your Mother for an image:

she shows you a photo a baby on her back, swathed in

red tiled roof, white stucco walls her dark silhouette, braced

damp with heat, dripping like home against a broad wall of blades the stiff edge of mango leaves long, green, strung with blushed

fruits, heavy, fermented for iguanas and scarlet macaws

dropping drunk, circling the roots

like the cardinal swatched turtle in a public garden, you left

with fire ants, biting ankles at the forested edge of a golf course

through white socks, your father looking for a sliced ball, synthetic melting in a conditioned home with two sections, the halves

split like lines of american cars sputtering to empty

reeking like sweat and gasoline, like miles of waiting and pushing by open palms and soles of need, people seeking, the dirt cheap

Reminders of a Home

I.

you don’t relive the tar

or broad leaves of palm

and banana trees, damp heat

drifting from wells

your crude-seared skin

limp-coated blades of hair

slicked to your scalp

fingers smeared, oiled brushes

painting a home to ruin

II.

here it leaks from pipes

through sand, into shallows

or the pockets of an american

claiming the tacky gravel, reserves

marked by potential

investments, dried and hardened

plastic like names

mounted to stations

or fused around a gift

stiff shelled, molded:

a woman, left with little room

About the Competition

The Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026 by Hashtag Kalakar is a prestigious event celebrating the art of words. This competition gathers diverse voices from around the globe, encouraging creativity and the sharing of unique stories. Participants across various categories, including poetry, short stories, and essays, have the opportunity to showcase their talents to a wide audience, highlighting the power and beauty of the written word.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Kaelos for sharing "Images: Extractions" with us as part of the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026. Your work captivates with its rich imagery and emotional depth, offering a beautiful reflection on identity and memory. We are honored to feature your talent and look forward to seeing your continued contributions to the world of poetry and creative writing.

About Hashtag Kalakar

Hashtag Kalakar is a creative platform dedicated to providing artists, writers, singers and other creative talents with opportunities to showcase their work and reach wider audiences through competitions, features and creative initiatives.