🌱 The Beautiful Light
Kissing the Earth #6
Day 6 of Kissing the Earth - here is your invitation for the month (it’s not too late to join us), and you can catch up on the first five poems here.
Late Prayer
May our weapons be effective feminine inventions that like life.
May we blow up like weeds, and be medicinal and everywhere.
May the disturbed ground be our pharmacy. May the exhausted
hang out in the beautiful light. May our souls moisten and reveal us.
May our actions be deft as the inhale after a dream of suffocation.
May the oligarchs get enough to eat in their souls.
May we participate in the intelligence we're in.
May we grow into our name. May political harm
be a stench that awakens. May we not be distracted.
Let our joy repeated be power that spreads.
May our wealth be common. May oligarchs come out
of their fortresses and become psychologically well.
May their wealth be returned to the people and places.
May we shift slide rise tilt roll and twist.
May we feel the very large intimacy
And may it assist us.
~ Erin Robinsong
Ah, today’s poem is a cracker. One of the things I love about words is that, when they’re arranged in the right order, they can light a fire inside us. In the case of this poem, a green fire.
I can feel my fire right now. I’m imagining being a blown dandelion and my seeds streaming into the breeze and floating everywhere. I’m imagining the oligarchs, both the ones out there and my own internal ‘oligarch parts’ - the hungry parts of me that always want more and that are never satisfied. I’m imagining lying under a tree and bathing my tired eyes in the beautiful light.
It makes me want to go on a march. To tenderly tend my garden. To speak up on —social media. To connect with my eco-grief, my rage, and my fierce love for dear Earth.
We need to tend to our fires more than ever in these days of climate and ecological crisis. What keeps your green fire going? What keeps you filled up with enough hope to avoid the inaction of despair? I think it is our duty to find joy in the riches around us. What brings you joy?
Go gently,
Satya <3
Featured piece: I met
on Notes and was struck by the warmth of his messages and by his generosity. He has a sharp eye for good images, and his pieces bring visual as well as textual riches. Over to Andy!
Hi Satya. I love the empathy towards the oligarchs - it’s a refreshing viewpoint. In answer to your questions, you are one of people who add fuel to my green fire - thank you. And this morning, a single, vibrant poppy was flowering on the dunes on my morning walk. Joy in the ephemeral wonders of nature!
Beautiful. Thank you for this, Satya.