Read Neil Gaiman's latest poem, "What You Need to Be Warm"

Neil Gaiman is no stranger to the world of writing.

Yet he was surprised by the shape that his creative process took when he began work on a piece to launch a United Nations fundraising appeal.

Last month, Gaiman asked his Twitter followers to share what reminded them of warmth.

The author of such bestselling novels as Good Omens and American Gods told the Guardian that he expected about a hundred replies to inspire a very concise short story.

Instead, he received nearly a thousand responses — numbering about 25,000 words — that prompted the freeform poem “What You Need to Be Warm.”

The poem marks the beginning of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’s fundraising for emergency winter assistance.

You can read “What You Need to Be Warm” (and/or give to the UNHCR Winter Emergency Appeal) on the Guardian’s website.