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Scott, I like the poem though it tends to sound a bit preachy, but as I’ve said in the past we have differing styles thought kindred thoughts. Best >KB
A beautiful poem of love of light, and of attachment!
Great poem! I think the “preachiness” comes from telling instead of showing, i.e, “A need for connections” or “And so should we.” I would take out lines like these and let the poem show that needful connection to the reader and to the poem itself. I hope this was helpful! Again, great job! Keep writing! You inspire me!
A poem in twilight language may be nicely commented upon in the same language:
If I Were Fire
I could move like a changeable leaf
wrapping and curving on the edges
while my central vein bent with the dry wind.
Shape-shifting, pliant,
dripping and stretching. Hot aspiring
to a cool blue God.
If I were fire you’d think me to a peanut between your eyes.
You’re only just now getting the trick of fixing me there
and are sure you’re changing too—you see me outside your brow.
You watch me flickering to your breath.
You inhale through full lips, soft tongue
and then pulse out a gentle nudge of air that yawns me
in a soft stretch off my wick, my spine.
A shirt on a pole drying in the backyard.
A flat Indiana farm.
If I were fire, I’d sheath around your flesh,
burn you like noon’s gaze, cape you under orange light.
I’d consume the hair all over you, the grasses
on the open plain, and then, when you were clean,
I’d love your spine as mine and all your limbs would wear me.
Scott says: Astonishing Mickey… The sheer glory of your realised spirit puts me in the shade and yet pulls me in to the light… Brilliant!
no shade without light
no hot without cold
all is light
all is water . . .
whether hot, whether cold,
whether in between
your dream
Love this poem Scott! Very inspirational and uplifting!
A lovely poem! Good work!
Amen Scott
just amen
Beautiful Scottie !!!
That was a wonderful write, I have not written sense I moved to FL.
Your stated desire is to speak to the soul of your readers when you write. You accomplished that beautifully here with this poem about need. I have read it five times already and each time, it resonates even more than the last.
Reminds me of a single piece of coal going out unless it rests upon others… lovely expression here
I think we should ~
Beautifully written Scott ~ Thanks for linking with D’verse
Ahh..the beauty of connection..is truly what it’s all about to me..kindling it with Truth is not always easy..but yes..there is always hope for one more light of firefly in the night!
I really like how you brought in nature as a healing power in this beautiful poem. Birthing night into day, bathing it clean. A perfect image.
Enjoyed your poem.
Quite beautiful. “litter of light” stopped me a bit – but I gather you mean a random scattering of light and I thought that it was quite fresh, a new visual, and I liked it very much. Well done.
Scott says: Thanks for this Gay – scattered yes, but also with the meaning of multiple offspring was really my intention here…
The blessed friction… That is what our relationships should be…
Hi Scott, as always, a new look at a segment of life-one of the most inportant. “To birth our night into day
And bathe it clean,offers new hope after past failures. Narrating it gives it an essay sound, but interesting and effective.
All my best,
Micki
The last paragraph really nails this just right:
To birth our night into day
And bathe it clean,
So that beloved things can glow
Together in a litter of light.
It reminds me of the glow worms that Wordsworth wrote about, thus capturing the connections between man and nature and how these things permeate all experience.
Somehow this brought to mind Emerson’s essay, “The Poet”, because your verse here creates a connection between nature, word, and imagined-possibility-brought into reality. Blessed friction indeed.
Thanks for sharing this work. I opened and read it while on a hike in the White Mountains of NH and it was apropos- I enjoyed the image of “night birthed into day”- best wishes!
Drinking a toast of friendship and life to you Scott! A beautifully written poem with a wonderful message!
This is a very nice poem…..
Very lovely poem Scott
Nice poem… Especially love the look of the site.
Every day is a rebirth into the “litter of light.”
Really a beautiful poem about the importance of connection here, Scott!
You are right, Scott. We need connections whether with nature or people. All the better when we have both.
It would be nice if love was the only polishing agent available.
Beautiful you can feel great expression
Beautiful poem…your words uplift, as always.
‘endeavour of hearts’ – nice for kindred souls, but the compassion could work to connect at another level…
A wonderful, very beautiful poem that particularly endears itself to me in the phrases “drawn in, enchanted”, “blessed friction”, “to birth our night into day” and “in a litter of light”. Lovely.
The poet is adjuring us to collect and polish precious fleeting moments of connection and enchantment wherever we may find them. We can use these polished, glittering memories, like glowing pebbles, like talismans to to bring us out of our nighttimes, ie times when we are low or lacking inspiration.
So we build up our own internal collection of vibrant experiences to heal ourselves—we don’t need anything external—everything we need is already inside us.
I love the soft graceful light of morning after a long and scary night. Beautiful. I needed this reminder of sunshine. Thank you.
I like how you work the emotion through the poem and that way the light works.
Birth, bathe, beloved things – such vivid, solvent alliteration in the last verse. A beutiful turn from night and need. This is a winsome, gentle gem, Scott – one I’d like to feature.
Write on, my friend.
Sk-g
The poem is like an open book before our eyes. The words are very profound and impressive, It was marvellous, as deep as an ocean…Thank you,Scott,for another excellent poem!
Thanks for the share Scott , nature does give inspiration from within.. good work..
Great – thanks for the link. Keep the post and poetry coming my way!
” aspire to polish” Yes, never-ending polishing results in lovely poems like this one!
“Forged by heart’s endeavour”…this is so much needed for that moment of beauty…nicely uplifting…
Very nice as always.:) Myra
I didn’t think this was preachy at all; it talks of the need for connection, which everyone needs.
The ending of this, especially, I thought was perfect for the piece:
Best,
Mike
This is an aspirational poem which does not reflect the reality of our world. I think something a little stronger is needed to bring this desired state of being about. Like a revision of our entire social structure. Thought provoking.
Lovely
You’ve chosen a universal concept here so it applies to everyone. I believe it is what we all hope for plus we all believe we strive to become better. I enjoy your writings and love your photos.
Wow Scott, I love this! The part about love being a “blessed friction” so profound and so true
Wow! “to birth our night into day and bathe it clean”….beautiful writing, Scott.
Wonderful.
I love the poem and find gentle inspiration in the words. Keep writing.
That allows us
To birth our night into day
And bathe it clean…
Well said!
“A blessed friction of sorts
That allows us
To birth our night into day”
I like the idea of friction helping people polish each other and make each one a better version of him/herself.
What a wonderful poem filled with beautiful emotion! Your writing is a pleasure to read 🙂 I look forward to reading more of your poems 🙂
There is a delightful old-fashioned quality to this poem – sorry, I mean that in the best possible way… with echoes of Catullus, T.S. Eliot and the Romantics…
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful… may we all be bathed in the light of inter-being and love.
Connection..that is all we need..nice one Scott 🙂 ..
“To birth our night into day
And bathe it clean”,…beautiful
Short, inspiring truth.
Fabulous!
Beautiful! “To birth our night into day”
Well written, I really like the description you created.
Beautiful as always – Thank you so very much for sharing…
Scott – liked the imagery of forging, friction and polishing – all these things to strengthen our connections with nature and each other – very strong – K
“And so should we
Always aspire to polish
Such precious attainment
With love,”
To appreciate our connections, our relationships, we really should nurture them and make sure those we truly care about know what they are to us. Well captured, Scott.
Yes, that attainment of connection usually does mean some friction…but blessed of course. This commentary on relationships was dealt with so delicately and sweetly…very nice.
Gayle ~
Scott, we all need connection and you conveyed it beautifully in your poem.
Oh how we love to be needed, but often hate our own neediness.
Elizabeth
Profound. Inspiring. Lovely.
Lovely write Scott 🙂
Thoughtful and calm.
A pearl!!
Scott,
What a lovely and inspiring poem. Connections are what make life worth living and the dawn of a new day,
“To birth our night into day
And bathe it clean,” A beautiful example of God’s grace. Thank you for sharing.
Scott,
I like this one quite a bit. Great imagery. Nice work, Scott.
Danny
Scott,
I like these lines the best, especially landing on the “blessed friction”.
aspire to polish
Such precious attainment
With love,
A blessed friction of sorts
As Da Vinci said all is connected – your seeking to polish those connections until they “shine in a litter of light ” speaks to a keen human longing articulated in lovely lyric form
You are a great writer Scott thanks for sharing
Well crafted sentiments ~
Love the last six lines – a universe of meaning in there! Nothing like the balm of morning to ease a weary, chapped night and your lines capture the thought with tenderness and optimism. A neat little write from you Scott…we all find our meanings in your words, feel strengthened by them and might I say, even feel enlightened after the read. Thank you for your amazing poems.
The poem, for me, begins with the second verse; the friction that produces human life later leading to the glow which sustains each existence. The poem is about ‘fire’….Thank you….pajamas
Beautiful poem! I love it! It’s inspired me. 🙂
Beautiful poem!!! You have a divine energy that transmits and transmutes into words. They enchant and resonate with the soul of all sensitive readers.
Marvelous word composition once again Scott! I love your close!
Beautiful..
I just went through your new poem – ‘a need’. It is great. One day we have to leave this beautiful world keeping behind all our lovable things and near and dear ones, but only these works will remain as your identity from where our grandchildren and great grandchildren will get inspiration. May God bless you in all your endeavours in the days to come.
Thank you for sharing … yes you’re so right .. we are always searching to fulfil that need … may your life be filled with light always …. Roda
Lovely poem Scott. It reminds me of that Maori proverb – turn your face to the sun and the shadows will fall behind you 🙂
On a roll, Scott!:)
Hi Scott, I love your poem and have read it several times and each time I love it more.
Scott sir, another piece of insightful writing. Good going. We indeed must value our kindred kinship with our fellow beings as well as the resonances of the bounties of nature and salute the divinity reverberating in both.
Thanks for the short and sweet valuable share.
With best of regards And
Divine greetings of Love, light and peace!
Beautiful, thanks for sharing it with me. 🙂
I enjoyed your poem very much, words used create so many pictures in the mind xxx thanks so much Scottie xx much love and light to you always K.C.
Gorgeous, Scottie. I can relate to this very well. I had a “wow” moment about two weeks ago. I actually connected with the universe, it was incredible. I have been flying since…
Peace and Love,
Pamela
A soulful write that speaks to each of us differently according to our own destiny and where we are at, regardless of time. love the alliteration in your closing line, it completes the piece beautifully. ~Well done.
Hi Scott – I finally got here. This has a gem-like quality to it, until the end, where your metaphor changes to birthing. Light and life…you got them both.
It’s refreshing to watch the metaphors come alive in your poetry. There is a realness, a wonder. I can tell you like to contemplate. I am surrounded by books in the afternoon, then the Universe opens itself at night for me.
A beautiful poem of love of light, and of attachment!
Scott,
Connection, isn’t that what life is all about..making new connections, losing track of some and cherishing the lasting ones. You have such a warm soul and never fail to make me smile. Thank you!
I really enjoyed reading your poetry. It’s very impressive.
Best wishes for continued success.
It’s been a long time since I have read poetry, but “a need” touched me. We all have the need to connect with others, nature and beauty. Being a pastor, I would’ve added God, but I find no fault in your having omitted that idea. Well done!
Whooooo . . . “litter of light” . . . lovely splash!
Beautiful Scott, inspiring and uplifting.
🙂
Call and response . . .
The call: “a need”
A response: “If I Were Fire”
If I Were Fire
I could move like a changeable leaf
wrapping and curving on the edges
while my central vein bent with the dry wind.
Shape-shifting, pliant,
dripping and stretching. Hot aspiring
to a cool blue God.
If I were fire you’d think me to a peanut between your eyes.
You’re only just now getting the trick of fixing me there
and are sure you’re changing too—you see me outside your brow.
You watch me flickering to your breath.
You inhale through full lips, soft tongue
and then pulse out a gentle nudge of air that yawns me
in a soft stretch off my wick, my spine.
A shirt on a pole drying in the backyard.
A flat Indiana farm.
If I were fire, I’d sheath around your flesh,
burn you like noon’s gaze, cape you under orange light.
I’d consume the hair all over you, the grasses
on the open plain, and then, when you were clean,
I’d love your spine as mine and all your limbs would wear me.
So true, we are complex creatures full of yearning
Very heartfelt write here. So specific and appealing to many writers views. Reading your write made me ‘feel like’ I was reading a summation of one’s work. Strangely even my own. And many different writers works. Kind of mysterious isn’t it. Like a summation of everyone’s small existence; acceptance. (liter or litter?)
Scott says: Hiya Sharon, Thanks so much for this – we say litter over here in the UK – though, as you can see irrespective of spelling, the use of litter (with all its various connotations) provoked differing responses in the comments above…
This poem is very lovely and nice. I enjoy reading it.
I admire your precise hand, your exacting touch. Delicate, like life, your poems give off a warmth all their own, and I feel as though I blossom reading them. What a pleasure it is to read these. Thank you!
Really like the last few lines:
“So that beloved things can glow
Together in a litter of light.”
-Beautiful!
I sense a kindred spirit. I’ll be reading more. Blessings. Dillon