Giving Voice to the Lost: A Personification Poem About a Button’s Fate

When I wrote my poem #Button for the #PersonifyThis prompt, I wanted to explore the often-overlooked perspective of everyday objects. Personification poems allow us to step into unexpected shoes—or in this case, a lost button—giving voice to emotions we rarely consider. This poem was my way of imagining what it feels like to be small, forgotten, and ultimately swept away by forces beyond one’s control.

The inspiration came from that universal moment of losing a button and realising it’s probably never coming back. I thought about where lost buttons go, how they might feel about being replaced, and the silent companionship they share with other discarded items. Through personification, I gave the button a personality—a mix of fear, sadness, and even a sense of camaraderie with the equally doomed pen lid. The vacuum, an unknowing villain, became a force of nature, oblivious to the tiny tragedies it causes.

#PersonifyThis is a powerful writing exercise that turns the ordinary into something profound. By breathing life into an inanimate object, I not only had fun crafting this quirky narrative but also highlighted the theme of loss in a lighthearted yet poignant way. Whether it’s a button, a pen lid, or any forgotten thing, we all sometimes wonder—who or what remembers us when we’re gone

Get involved with #PersonifyThis and share your personification poem at https://x.com/dreambeastpoems or https://bsky.app/profile/dreambeastpoems.bsky.social or https://www.instagram.com/markbirdpoet/ xxx

#PersonifyThis: A Write a Personification poem #poetry #microfictionprompt