Be the Round World
Be the Round World
If you are anything but flat, you will cast yourself in shadow, find yourself wrapped in cool and dark, shrouded in mist. Still, be a forest, be a mountain, be the round world. Be the contrast, peaks and canyons, that makes beauty visible to the naked heart.
Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash
The Prompt
I’m still wrapping up my trip west to visit family, so this will be another comparatively short (and possibly typo-rich) post for you today. If you would like a prompt to play with, friends, then I invite you to play with shadows. Your own shadow, both physical and figurative. The shadows around you, literal and metaphorical.
Cast a shadow puppet if you’d like. Let yourself play. Stand in the sun at different times of day. Watch your body stretch and shrink and stretch again, blocking light to a shifting patch of ground. Marvel at the shadows of trees or buildings or cars hurrying past. Imagine a world without shadows. What would that be like? Let yourself wonder, friends, and in that wonder, notice what seed of a poem might be cracking open, hoping to grow. Let it stretch. Share it here in the comments if you’d like. Reading your words is such a treat.
A final note before I sign off for today . . . LeeAnn Pickrell and I are hosting our third open mic for Substack poets. On Saturday, August 16 at 12:00 PDT/3:00 EDT, we’ll be treated to readings from Weston Parker, Kim Nelson, Shondra Bowie, and Thomas Rist, and then we’ll open the mic to anyone who would like to share a poem of their own. If you have been wanting to try an open mic but haven’t yet worked up the courage or found the time, then let us be the first to cheer for your poems! Or simply join in for the pleasure of listening and supporting others. If you would like to attend, please send me a DM or reply to this email, and I’ll send you the Zoom registration link. I hope to see many of you lovelies there!
This is such a lovely poem! "be a forest,/be a mountain,/be the round world.
"be a forest,
be a mountain,
be the round world.
Be the contrast,
peaks and canyons,
that makes beauty
visible
to the naked heart."
"Be the contrast,/peaks and canyons,/that makes beauty/visible/to the naked heart," What powerful lines right to the heart! I realize I love each line of the poem, and they flow so seamlessly and graecefully together. I find shadows fascinating, the real and the matephorical. We have our first rain in over a week today, and a good day to think about shadows!
Have a great time out west communing with beloveds and nature!
When Sadness Comes
^
Often when sadness comes
I want to flee to a safe place,
the calm of a secluded mountain meadow,
the cool comfort of a high-country stream,
the quiet place where the shadows cannot find me.
^
Often when sadness comes
I plug in to zone out,
restorative music to fill my heart,
sweet poetry to take me away,
clarity that brings light to shadows.
^
Often when sadness comes,
I am so afraid of the hidden pain trapped within,
the secrets and lies lost to time,
the desperate screams howling from the shadows,
I evacuate my spirit from the hurricane rolling through.
^
Sometimes when sadness comes,
sneaking up like a summer shower,
I search for bright light to renew my soul,
forgetting yet again that without the shadows
the light will only be light.