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kate gardiner clearlight's avatar

it is said

this is when the weavers arrive,

you will know them by

their hunting songs.

among the nightshades and the wolf grass,

wings and jaws and tongues are preying

upon dark willing blooms.

behind the curtain I lift my praying hands

to find them sewn into the softness

of falling night, a symphony of form and story

now seamlessly embroidered

by winged needle

into a landscape of dreaming earth.

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Trish Harris's avatar

Kate, I’ve read your poems this week and each day I think, “She is filled with Spirit.” This one is particularly beautiful.

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kate gardiner clearlight's avatar

I’m so touched by that, thank you for seeing me 🥹 and for being here in this cauldron of poetry!!

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A. Wilder Westgate's avatar

This imagery is so evocative. I feel like you would write the most magical faerie tales.

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kate gardiner clearlight's avatar

wow, I have never even thought to try, thank you so much for that mystical invitation!!

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Katie Spring's avatar

I agree! Imagine - faerie tales via poems infused with desert flower energy ✨

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kate gardiner clearlight's avatar

This idea has literally blown my mind 😂 I’ve been walking around all afternoon thinking wait… I could write FAIRY TALE POETRY?! 😍 complete paradigm shift.

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Celeste Zenko's avatar

Another ethereal dream journey!! I look forward to what mysteries you’ll share each day Kate.

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Sarah Hope Guppy's avatar

Me too! ✨

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kate gardiner clearlight's avatar

that is so kind, I have been LOVING your shares as well.

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Nicole Boehrig's avatar

Beautiful!

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Jane Anderson's avatar

So beautiful.

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Dwight Lee Wolter's avatar

How kind of you, dear day,

Not to cast all light away

And slam me into darkness.

This easing, this segue, reveals

That every departure is an arrival,

And every loss a gain.

Like milk poured into

black coffee,

The point of entry

Always becomes a swirl

And both darkness and light

Are contained within each other.

All of my life is dusk,

the pinnacle of nothing.

Every holding on

Is preceded and followed

By a letting go.

And so, go

“Gentle into that good night.”

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Margaret Somerville's avatar

a beautiful easing, Dwight.

This is so meangingful for me today.

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Andi Batt's avatar

Absolutely lovely

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Jane Anderson's avatar

Love this Dwight.

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Trish Harris's avatar

Beautiful

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Rachel Louise's avatar

Where does the time go

She wonders

Washing the last of the dishes

For the third time that day

Her body and mind weary

From the day’s divided hours, minutes

Comprised of assignments, deadlines,

Post-its reminding her take out the trash

Sign the permission slip,

set up the coffee, and remember:

Make the appointment—but did she

Make time for herself

as she’d promised?

She wonders

Placing the last water bottle into the drying rack

Then her eyes catch the view

Out the window

Of the ribbons of pinks, oranges, violets,

All blending and dissolving into

The darkest of blues, reminding her:

The day’s journey is ending

The striving and struggles may pause

For now, she is enough

For now, all that remains is to absorb

The quiet embrace of night

The threads of darkness have formed

A hammock into which she may

Settle her body and mind and

Welcome the peace of rest.

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Nicole Boehrig's avatar

Oooo that imagery of nature creating the hammock for her body to rest. 👏🏼 aweeed!

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Jane Anderson's avatar

Wow Rachel, this is lovely. I love how the poem begins the thoughts coming to close at the end of the day .

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Trish Harris's avatar

Ribbons & threads….💚

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Barbara Chaapel's avatar

Dusk

Like a cat burgler

Dusk cracks open the sun's safe

To steal its gold light.

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Korie's avatar

Once I rode

A dusky horse

Into the dawn,

Leather-smelling

And lathered,

He changed color

With the rising sun

Until I could see

That dark as he was

His beauty was light to me.

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kate gardiner clearlight's avatar

this is utterly mysterious, and full of sensorial movement. wow.

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Nicole Boehrig's avatar

I put a disclaimer on my posted page. I have no plans of death soon. And if anyone is struggling with prematurely ending your precious wild, precious lives, please reach for help. Message me. Message a trusted friend. Call a hotline. Know you’re deeply beloved- by all the Universe and Beings within it. Sometimes the love can feel too far. Help will help. You’re so brave.

This poem comes more from a place of contemplating the goodness of life now and wanting to check-in, and live with intention.

So, I offer you:

Dusk

When the sun sets for the last time

When dusk settles over my body,

one, last evening.

I imagine a smile rests

I hope my bones will be old,

a little tired,

like the exhaustion after a hard day’s work. Satisfied.

When my eyes close at the last, suspended

place between sun’s light & night’s light,

May they still sparkle. Mischief & play still

delighting til the very end.

May there be love and legacy words on my slightly parted lips.

And may you know, not only

Your belovedness, but also your goodness.

May you know, I’m unafraid to go.

May you know the path ahead,

because in my time,

we learned to live it wholeheartedly.

Face me West.

So I will become dust

So J will welcome Dusk &

See her beauty

One. Last. Time.

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Margaret Somerville's avatar

The routine snapped

The bliss burst

A poem then a courteous call

Eight hours of testing later

Brings the dusk to match the color of your coat

___

You are so happy. How can it be?

That’s the problem, said the vet.

She learned to live this way.

An organ shrinking into dusk, too soon

When you are only still a pup

That chases shadows into ponds.

___

Why must I hold the scissors to cut the thread of life

The Atropos that snips the fibers when the time is told?

Would that I could be your Clotho

Spinning, spinning

Till we are tangled in unending time together

For finding new trails

And picking off ticks

For happy homecomings

A faceful of licks

________

Let’s rest now, my dear, in the dusk of this life

Till the sunset brings bliss and an end to the strife.

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Margaret Somerville's avatar

I could not believe the synchronicity of this space and these prompts. Yesterday to sit in the morning and write about the routine bliss of a day with my dog. Only hours later finding out she has a completely unexpected terminal diagnosis. And to awake to the prompt of dusk today. The accompaniment of you all in this space is something very special and is moving in mysterious ways.

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Kaitlin Curtice's avatar

♥️♥️♥️ sending you so much love

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Margaret Somerville's avatar

So grateful to be able share here and for the love

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A. Wilder Westgate's avatar

Sending love to you and your sweet pup, Margaret. 🧡

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Margaret Somerville's avatar

Thank you so much

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Trish Harris's avatar

Sending love💚

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Christian Totty's avatar

Wow, this phrase: "Would that I could be your Clotho / Spinning, spinning / Till we are tangled in unending time together" it gives me chills, Margaret.

Sending love to and your beloved pup.

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Margaret Somerville's avatar

Thank you so much, Christian.

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Karen Mawyer's avatar

Dusk

Sitting on our screen porch, mug of tea in hand, facing West, toward the mountains on the horizon,

Watching colors -- yellow, orange, pink, blue -- spread themselves over the Blue Ridge.

Slowly they fuse into velvety gray, final tinges of pink and blue gilding their edges.

Dusk has come again.

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Sarah Hope Guppy's avatar

I would love to come sit with you sometime Karen, and your words her make me feel like I have 💜

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Rachel Louise's avatar

Ah the Blue ridge, love that part of the country. ❤️

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Nicole Boehrig's avatar

Beautiful! An image I’ve partaken in many, good times. Your words brought me back.

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Trish Harris's avatar

O Mystery, where have you gone?

You play with light

You tease the wind

And then you vanish

Into the dark of night.

I will wait by the water’s edge

Until I witness your familiar presence.

You will infuse your wisdom

Into my curious heart

And then slowly disappear.

O Mystery, come.

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kate gardiner clearlight's avatar

🥹🙏🌪️ the longing… in love with this prayer.

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Trish Harris's avatar

Thank you, Kate❤️

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Kate Hennessy-Keimig's avatar

Night birds fly in the

improbably purple sky

as day fades to night.

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Nancy E. Holroyd, RN's avatar

When night falls into the glooming,

a magical time of dusk appears.

The shift is so subtle at first with

a misty shift in shade and light.

~

Tendrils of yellows filter through clouds

deepening into oranges and reds.

The blue of the sky deepens into indigo

as it continues to darken.

~

The air all around changes its tune

from the cacophony of bird song,

while peepers and tree frogs start

croaking out their messages of love.

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A. Wilder Westgate's avatar

In the almost-dark,

shadows gather in at the

edge, a dusty gloom

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kate gardiner clearlight's avatar

the allurement in this... terrifying and mouth-watering..

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Chuck's avatar

Its a transition

Like the move from nursing home

to funeral home.

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Joe Dura's avatar

Dusk

Alone in the damp air

Dusk imperceptably tightens around me

Obscuring what is real

Adds suspicion to what I still can see

Not the cycle of new days

Where its enough to hold on to the tatters

And will a new dawn come

With a return to when truth really matters?

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Janaki Bandara's avatar

The darkening sky signals:

time to lay worries and work down,

time to allow sorrow or grief to roost

in the rafters of the soul.

The darkening sky signals:

an opening to the unconscious as I sleep,

my unconscious

collective unconscious

gathering up images

to feed my dream soul.

The darkening sky signals:

closure.

The opportunity to lay things down to rest.

The darkening sky signals:

the contrast against which

sun will rise in the morning.

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Claire's avatar

Dusk

The frayed edges of the day

As the day stretches out

And reaches its limit

And starts to gently fade away

Just now

Here in this place

The days are stretching

Dusk becoming later each day

With long stretching evenings

Under big skies

But come mid June

The dusk will start creeping

Further and further in

Till in December

When dusk won't be as I lay down to sleep

But when I collect the children from school

And hurry home before it's dark

So for now I'll enjoy

Enjoy the stretching

At the edges

As the days reach their limits

As the light fades

In this in-between time.

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