86 Comments
User's avatar
kate gardiner clearlight's avatar

when I say

I’m going to pray,

I mean a prayer so big

it stretches ten thousand years

past the radioactive remnants

of our nuclear mistakes.

I mean a prayer indestructible

like a diamond, tucked into a dark crevice

of basalt in the depths of the river gorge,

where the warm spring forever bubbles up

like a holy wound,

to be found by some curious hands

in a time so far from now

there will only be faint ruins left

of our dream, this longing

to love

beyond ourselves.

Expand full comment
Margaret Somerville's avatar

"a prayer so big

it stretches ten thousand years"

I love this image of our prayers stretching into deep time

Expand full comment
Larry Brickner-Wood's avatar

Kate, your poem leaves me breathless in its beauty, wisdom and tenderness. “ Past the radioactive remnants/of our nuclear mistakes.” Amen. “Where the warm spiring forever bubbles up/like a holy wound.” Each of the lines in this remarkable poem touches me deeply. Thank you!

Expand full comment
kate gardiner clearlight's avatar

Dear Larry, thank you for such attentive and caring comments… thank you for being touchable!!

Expand full comment
Larry Brickner-Wood's avatar

You are welcome, Kate! And I love learning new phrases Being touchable is a great one!

Expand full comment
Celeste Zenko's avatar

WHOA. This is powerful.

Expand full comment
jess's avatar

Gorgeous!

Expand full comment
Nancy E. Holroyd, RN's avatar

kate, the imagery in your poem is breathtaking.

Expand full comment
kate gardiner clearlight's avatar

Thank you so much Nancy ♥️

Expand full comment
A. Wilder Westgate's avatar

This one brought tears to my eyes, Kate. It's so beautiful.

Expand full comment
kate gardiner clearlight's avatar

💔🙏 thank you dear heart

Expand full comment
Joe Dura's avatar

Very nice portrayal of eons passing

Expand full comment
Joe Dura's avatar

Have you read "A Canticle for Leibowtz"?

Expand full comment
kate gardiner clearlight's avatar

No but I just looked it up and 😱 definitely getting my hands on a used copy, thank you!

Expand full comment
kate gardiner clearlight's avatar

eons!! yes 🦋🌀

Expand full comment
Chuck's avatar

Nuclear mistake remnants.... hmmmm

Expand full comment
A. Wilder Westgate's avatar

I trace a finger down my forearm,

across my palm, and stop

at the last segment of my middle finger.

The universe is so old that this is

the only way I can begin to understand

the length of time that has passed

before humans and all of our strangeness,

how little time it has taken for us

to leave such a big mark on the world,

the arrogance and audacity of it.

Expand full comment
Dwight Lee Wolter's avatar

As we are hellbent on destroying eternity.

Expand full comment
Margaret Somerville's avatar

This draws me right in - I'm tracing down my arm and holding the arrogance and audacity

Expand full comment
Larry Brickner-Wood's avatar

This is a cosmic poem from the deep time, the deep wisdom. "The universe is so old that this is/the only way I can begin to understand/the length of time that has passed/before humans and all of our strangeness," My goodness, A. your poems speak to me in every word and on so many levels.

Expand full comment
jess's avatar

Love this imagery, thank you

Expand full comment
Katie Spring's avatar

This morning the red-winged

blackbirds are flitting and soaring

over the field

flying from the tree line to

their ground nests.

When the mist burns off

they'll chase away a raven

nevermind the raven is bigger —

there's more blackbirds and

that streak of red must

count for something

and anyway, they've been doing this

forever

As long as there have been fields

and spring and ravens

As long as flight

And I'm here, too

breathing it in,

my own cells piqued

by some memory of

belonging

Expand full comment
Nancy E. Holroyd, RN's avatar

Early this morning I wrote a poem about sitting on a bream between a river and marshland. A redwing blackbird showed up in that poem. They are one of my favorite birds. I love your poem

Expand full comment
kate gardiner clearlight's avatar

as long as flight…. 💔 this is perfection.

Expand full comment
Margaret Somerville's avatar

Thank you for this reminder to use our streak of red and our community

Expand full comment
Katie Spring's avatar

Your response just made see more in my own poem! Sometimes I don't know where a poem comes from, and I love how often poems become deeper or are revealed more when they're shared ❤️

Expand full comment
Margaret Somerville's avatar

Yes, so true! The value of this community.

Expand full comment
Larry Brickner-Wood's avatar

This is so beautiful, Katie. You weave a beautiful scene with wonder, curiosity and wisdom. You are an incredible poet!

Expand full comment
Katie Spring's avatar

Thank you Larry!

Expand full comment
Kaitlin Curtice's avatar

Thank you everyone, once again for consistently sharing in this space and for being so kind and generous with one another. I'm so honored to be in community with you!

Expand full comment
Jimmy's avatar

Mystics speak of cosmic consciousness

How we’re all connected

Across time and space

Knowing this to be true

I search for my real self

In this present place

Unencumbered by future & past

Learning that Love

Is the only thing that lasts

An Eon, a month

A day, a Century

There are no others

Only We

As I study this universe

Suddenly, all is sublime

Must mean we’ve always been here

Across Deep Time

Expand full comment
Larry Brickner-Wood's avatar

I really like the lyrical cadence of your poem, Jimmy, I, too, was thinking of cosmic consciousness and matters. Your poem re iodned of yet another song from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band which feels like an anthem: "And So It Goes." https://youtu.be/oGH1diHvBwA?si=pqBerTqCw25IC8C7

Expand full comment
Steven Barbery's avatar

Jimmy, I have similar thoughts as I ponder time and try to write. Thank you for sharing.

Expand full comment
Claire's avatar

Deep time

Deeper and deeper

I sink

Dive down

Down into the past

Into past memories

Past stories.

Looking

Searching

For the thread

The thread that connects it all

The thread that will lead me back

Up to this moment

Now

And on into the future

The golden thread

That weaves

And holds

All things together.

Expand full comment
Margaret Somerville's avatar

the image of the golden thread that weaves through time is so poignant, so present

Expand full comment
Larry Brickner-Wood's avatar

What a splendid poem, Claire. I also like the notion of thread, and golden thread, and the connections we have beyond this realm. This is deep wisdom, and you share it well.

Expand full comment
Joe Dura's avatar

Deep Time

Deep emotions

Deep reaction

Deep confusion

as to the cause

Deep discussions

Deep reflections

Deep awareness

cause me to pause

Deeply probing

Deep convictions

Deeply questioning

why they are prime

Deep protection

Deeply buried

Deep imprinting

From a Deep time

Expand full comment
Margaret Somerville's avatar

I love the movement of this, the imprinting!

Expand full comment
Larry Brickner-Wood's avatar

Very nice, Joe. This is wonderfully rhythmic! Deep blessings on your deep journeys!

Expand full comment
Korie's avatar

In deep time

There are no clocks

To tick or stop,

For here is silence,

Memories

Of eternity

Joining moments

In solidarity,

Notifying

All who can be

Still and know

That all is always

Well for forever.

Expand full comment
Margaret Somerville's avatar

I love that you have captured that the clocks hold the capacity to tick and to stop. Yes!

Expand full comment
Larry Brickner-Wood's avatar

Korie, your poem of a clockless place is magical. Memories/Of eternity/joining moments/In solidarity." What creative instincts you have and are able to express. The pacing of your poem is so natural and reads like a poem, a song, a prayer and a cry to the One Love.

Expand full comment
Korie's avatar

Thank you, Larry 😊

Expand full comment
Nancy E. Holroyd, RN's avatar

In long buried time in the

depths of the past.

A time before, I knew you then.

In a time swirling far out beyond,

long after your passing,

I will see you, yet again.

`

There is a thread that connects

us to our past and carries us to our future.

I knew you then and now.

We are all connected through threads of time.

Weaving us in and out of our collective lives.

`

Ah… I say at your birth…

You are an old soul, come back to me in this time.

`

I say at your birth…

Ah… you have been here, many times before,

and you are a living angel not for this world.

`

And I say at your birth…

Ah… you have not been here many cycles before…

Like your sisters before you, your journey will take you to new places.

`

All of us…

swirling, curling around each other, in and out of different times

and different places.

Deep time

Shallow time

New time

Future time

Weaving, dancing,

knit together,

torn apart…

Reconnect,

split apart…

Together always,

Always apart.

We shall see each other

over and over again.

Expand full comment
Katie Spring's avatar

This poem brings me back to when my son was born, looking in his eyes and feeling like he knew so much that I'd forgotten ❤️

Expand full comment
Nancy E. Holroyd, RN's avatar

Yes! With each one of my daughters... there was this knowing when I first looked into their eyes.

Expand full comment
Margaret Somerville's avatar

This is so deeply moving. Thank you! I remember the hours of the wakeful nights after my three were born was my most fruitful time of writing poetry.

Expand full comment
Larry Brickner-Wood's avatar

Thank you Nancy, for this wonderfully evocative and moving poem, for me, also, it took me to the births of our children, and the journeys we have been together and apart. It also brought to mind the losses in this realm, and that notion of being gone from here but not gone, of being distant but not far away. A beautiful poem!

Expand full comment
Nancy E. Holroyd, RN's avatar

The interconnectedness of souls has long been something I feel more or less with many people I know. But it really touched me strongly with each of my babies, with two, even before birth.

Expand full comment
Larry Brickner-Wood's avatar

This resonates so much, Nancy. Your cosmic, intuitive gifts are so strong.

Expand full comment
Nancy E. Holroyd, RN's avatar

Our Sheila's were even stronger than mine. Her deep understanding of what is beyond the veil was uncanny.

Expand full comment
Rachel Louise's avatar

Where was I before

You knew me,

She asked, not yet old enough

To read the confusion in my eyes

But old enough to know

Her origin story, her adoption story,

And to sense my hesitation

When she pondered,

Was I in heaven waiting to be born?

You were, I said, both

Astonished and frightened by

How much I wanted to believe that

Through the deepest, darkest

Tunnels of time and space

Within all that ever existed before

Our trajectories merged—mother and daughter—

At the precise miracle moment

The universe intended.

Expand full comment
Margaret Somerville's avatar

oh my goodness, so very beautiful! Thank you for sharing this tenderness!

Expand full comment
Larry Brickner-Wood's avatar

This is so tender, moving and lovely Rachel. Crafted so beautifully by the heart and spirit you bring. My instinctive answer to your belief at the end-yes, yes!

Expand full comment
Nancy E. Holroyd, RN's avatar

Rachel, this is amazing.

Expand full comment
Chuck's avatar

deep time question marks?

We get stuff,

we fuck stuff up.

free will, for starters.

Expand full comment
Larry Brickner-Wood's avatar

Even in your firm indictments, Chuck, your poems make me smile.

Expand full comment
Dwight Lee Wolter's avatar

The hourless glass

Plays tricks on us.

A speck of sand am I

Marking time, waiting my turn

To be excreted, dumped

Into the unknown and unmeasured.

Then comes the cosmic joke!

I get the punchline:

There is no end or beginning!

Ha! Ha!

There is no spiral, circle, square…

No line or string

No shore.

Sunrise and sunset occur

With each blink of my eye.

Now fancy that!

When every last speck like me

Is filtered, sorted, and ended…

The great One

Turns the hourless glass

Upside down (!)

And starts all over.

Aha!

Begrudgingly,

I have come to believe:

Everything coexists

At the same,

Shall we call it,

For want of a better word,

Time.

Holy Moly!

All my ancestors are my offspring.

They are living, dying, and dead,

Right now.

Well, shucks,

At least I have now.

Whoops!

As soon as I wrote “now”

It became then.

This is getting confusing

Or is it getting clarifying?

I had better quit while I am ahead,

Or behind,

Or both at the same time

“Time.”

Written by the departed, departing

And yet to be born

Dwight Lee Wolter.

Expand full comment
Larry Brickner-Wood's avatar

Very interesting and intriguing, Dwight. It reads for me like a conversational poem in its flow of exchange, question and pondering.

Expand full comment
Margaret Somerville's avatar

I said that I’d go first

For others were afraid

Of five thin pins inserted

In each ear

And so I entered it before the rest

Deep time.

Initially I was aware

Of the apprehensions of my guests

For I was host

In the space of retreat

The room assignments made

The schedule aligned

Packets of information artfully designed

The comfort of others, my concern.

But this

This was for me

So I’ll go first

—-

She moved with stealth

From one to one

Small gasps were heard

At unexpected pricks

Then none

Then fading shades of consciousness

Deep tones of red and orange is all there was

A healthy flow of Qi

Life’s energy unleashed

Through me

I am the center of

Eternity

Expand full comment
kate gardiner clearlight's avatar

wow. This opened up a whole unexpected pathway for me. And now I need to make an acupuncture appointment immediately 🥲

Expand full comment
Margaret Somerville's avatar

Yes, do!

Expand full comment
Dwight Lee Wolter's avatar

? ?

Expand full comment
Kate Hennessy-Keimig's avatar

This captures my experience of acupuncture perfectly. I thought it was just me!

Expand full comment
Margaret Somerville's avatar

I'm so glad!

Expand full comment
Larry Brickner-Wood's avatar

I love this Margaret! I had acupuncture and chiro this morning, and welcome the assortments of places my caregivers choose for that treatment's particular intention. I'd love to share it with our practioners, I know they will love it, if agreeable to you!

Expand full comment
Margaret Somerville's avatar

Absolutely! I'd be honored for you to share.

Expand full comment
Jane Longley's avatar

Some things are a mystery to me

Yet in my heart, deep down,

I know

That deep in the depths of time

There are truths

That were ordained

of love

of hope

of life itself

which were

which are

which will always be

Expand full comment
Larry Brickner-Wood's avatar

What a beautiful poem, Jane, and intention to bring into these perilous times.

Expand full comment
jess's avatar

In deep time

The questions i had

-

Will someone ever love me?

Will i become what i hope for?

Who am I after this change?

-

Are already answered

The questions i still have;

-

How will we get through this hurdle?

Or this week?

-

They Hardly register

On the long spools

Of history

Expand full comment
Larry Brickner-Wood's avatar

This is brilliant, Jess, in the questions and the answers and the reflecton.

Expand full comment
Lisa Lightner's avatar

Pearl Divers

From one past dream, a pool

wherein to dive is soon to find, fathoms deep in blind cool, a line between worlds.

Is to swim without breath,

peal divers after scaly beasts,

forgotten things, cities beyond all remembering,

angst of beggars, greed of kings, love, hate, gold

and promise rings...

Now trash disguised in coral clans, barnacles with

slimy bands.

To dig in rubble, breaking nails, for beyond sight envisioning.

Expand full comment
Larry Brickner-Wood's avatar

This is wonderfully engaging, Lisa! I felt right down there with you in the previous deep water!

Expand full comment