I love this Rachel. I, also, feared deep water and the quicksand I saw on TV shows and movies which swallowed humans and animals whole. “Our souls know the way back/the ocean will return us home.” Your poem is a wonderful invitation to go deeper, to not be afraid of the questions. What great work!
This is wonderful Bethany! “You, my precious love/You dig into my Underland/And you don’t shy away/ You get your hands dirty with me!” Yes! What an amazing poem you have created’. Thank you for sharing!
Kate, I wrote a long reply on a one which never went through! In essence, I rave about this remarkable poem! I love your connection of a circle of women with the “beating heart of earth.” Your poem moves me so much. Thank you!
This is splendid, Claire. As fitting for the prompt, your poem has a sweet depth to it, and an inquisitive spirit that invites me to ask these same questions of my self!
What lies beneath this land that we live on, that we love?
Tree roots, for one thing. Three, four times the size of the canopies of our old maples and walnuts, of our strong magnolia shedding brown leaves all year, of our redbuds, our dogwood, our pines.
Buried bulbs of daffodils, dahlias, iris, lilies, tulips.
Old roots of berry bushes, boxwood, forsythia, holly.
Slender roots of newly planted vegetables, pushing through the rich soil of their raised beds into the red dirt underneath.
Insects, earthworms, moles, voles, groundhogs in their carefully dug tunnels.
Well casing, pump and pipes, groundwater deep beneath.
Fiber optic cable, anchoring us to the world beyond this place.
And near a sheltering redbud tree, four square marble slabs for the four kitties who loved this place as we do.
This is so beautiful, Karen! I enjoyed the lines through the roots of trees, and learned a lot! The ending, with your honoring of the four kitties, is so lovely and moving! Thank you for sharing!
Each of your prompts and poems have me diving and digging deeper than I thought I could or would go. Sometimes that’s scary, but doing so with a wisdom guide and a cadre of beloved poets makes it accessible and less frightening for! Thank you Kaitlin and poetic wonders!
Deep in the woods
where fairy mounds
and fairy circles reside;
there lies an underland
of deep and mystical,
magical wonders.
~
Are the fairies good
or are the evil?
Every child must
discover for themselves.
~
One child found dancing—
twirling and swirling
to a tune only they hear.
Another child found cowering—
slinking through the woods
until they bolt for a grassy field.
~
What do they see?
What do they hear?
Only they and the underland
know for sure.
This is deeply moving and powerful, Nancy. I love the questions you pose, and the agency you give each of us to discover for ourselves!
Thank you, Larry. I appreciate your thoughtful comment.
As a child
I feared the deep end
Of the pool
Staring down from the high dive
Into the cavernous blue
That I was certain would pull me
Too far down
The way I was certain that
Quicksand in a dark forest
Would drag me
Into the Underland
Of places unknown and into depths
From which I would not reemerge
Yet I suspect that
What I feared instead
Were the deepest parts of me
Questions with no answers
Pain without relief
Resentments of unknown sources
Anger towards myself
That kept me from myself
Until slowly I let go and
Began exploring the darker depths
Swimming farther into the gulf
Discovering that I could embrace
Without drowning
Do not resist the undertow,
We are taught,
Do not swim against the tide
No matter how far out and deep
We find ourselves
Our souls know the way back
The ocean will return us home.
I love this Rachel. I, also, feared deep water and the quicksand I saw on TV shows and movies which swallowed humans and animals whole. “Our souls know the way back/the ocean will return us home.” Your poem is a wonderful invitation to go deeper, to not be afraid of the questions. What great work!
You dissect me
Dig under my skin and find worms crawling through my soil
Spread apart my ribs and find roots, filled with cortisol, streaming through my limbs
Shovel down to the caverns of my guts and find all of the shame, guilt, and terror that fuel me
You, my precious love
You dig into my underland
And you don’t shy away
You get your hands dirty with me
"you get your hands dirty with me"....chills
This is powerful!
This is wonderful Bethany! “You, my precious love/You dig into my Underland/And you don’t shy away/ You get your hands dirty with me!” Yes! What an amazing poem you have created’. Thank you for sharing!
Underland
What lies beneath?
Is it sorrow?
Is it joy?
Is it hope to feed your dreams?
What grows in the dark damp fertile earth below?
This mystery of life
This wonder of growth
It is there
In the underland
That life becomes life
That breath breaks free
This is commended, Jane! “It is there/in the Underland/that life becomes life/that breath breaks free.” Indeed. What wonderful words you share!
I did not ask to be taken
there, but old dark hands still
came to guide me downward.
there by firelight, a thousand women
were singing, calmly and joyfully
knitting the quilt, stirring the stew,
sharpening the arrows
of every cell that rises and flies out
from the beating heart of Earth.
Kate, I wrote a long reply on a one which never went through! In essence, I rave about this remarkable poem! I love your connection of a circle of women with the “beating heart of earth.” Your poem moves me so much. Thank you!
Aw thank you so much Larry, I’m so glad it touched you 💔🙏
Under wonder -
Under where?
Deeply feeling -
Under there.
The root of it -
Heart of the matter.
Mice and goblins
Gladly chatter.
Sprout and tendril
Make their way.
Hard rock, soft rock,
Every day.
Deep beneath -
Hand in hand -
Welcome to the
Underland.
The first 4 lines made me smile. Drew my right into this playful space.
Hehe, it made me smile too Nancy!!
this is sooo playful and sweet
Ah thank you kate 💜
This is magical, Sarah! What a delightful romp through underlands of heart and mind, place and people! I love the rhythm and cadence you create!
I love this! How cute!
Awh, I'm glad!! 💜
Underworld
What lies below
Deep beneath?
Down in the darkness
Deep in me?
Is it something to fear?
The unknown, uncovered, hidden
Or is it a mystery and a wonder
To behold?
Like the seeds and bulbs
Burried deep below.
Left in the dark
To rise and grow
And spring up
Full of life
With bold and beautiful colours
When the season is right.
What gifts might lie below?
This is splendid, Claire. As fitting for the prompt, your poem has a sweet depth to it, and an inquisitive spirit that invites me to ask these same questions of my self!
Underland where roots grow deep
Underland where secrets keep
For moments nestled in the dark
—
Underland my dreams are formed
Underland ideas are born
Before the world may sup them
—
Gently furl and uncurl
The fronds of daylight reaching
Into view with shades imbue
Of other worlds unleashing
This is wonderful, Margaret! I love the rhyming cadence, which seems to flow so naturally.
What can be said
Of the Underland?
The depths where most
Refuse to go?
So sad to realize
What is missed
By staying on the surface!
Formations of soul,
Pools of desire,
The heart of essence,
Cavernous love;
Treasures of the deep
Awaiting the brave.
This is wonderful, Korie, so rich with insight and wisdom.
Love this! Thanks
not sea depth, per se
It's the sea size overhead
That sub sailors fret.
Brilliant, Chuck!
Day 10
Here in the underworld,
riotous celebration;
webbed streamers glinting
in breath of breeze
mark out the day’s wonder
while in a nook higher up
a squirrel stops to groom
itself - it is that season
when all around activity
requires attentiveness
to the thingyness of things.
*thanks to Jonathan Rogers for his reflection this week on thingyness
Nice work, Aaron! Thingynesd—I love it!
Underland – A Survey
What lies beneath this land that we live on, that we love?
Tree roots, for one thing. Three, four times the size of the canopies of our old maples and walnuts, of our strong magnolia shedding brown leaves all year, of our redbuds, our dogwood, our pines.
Buried bulbs of daffodils, dahlias, iris, lilies, tulips.
Old roots of berry bushes, boxwood, forsythia, holly.
Slender roots of newly planted vegetables, pushing through the rich soil of their raised beds into the red dirt underneath.
Insects, earthworms, moles, voles, groundhogs in their carefully dug tunnels.
Well casing, pump and pipes, groundwater deep beneath.
Fiber optic cable, anchoring us to the world beyond this place.
And near a sheltering redbud tree, four square marble slabs for the four kitties who loved this place as we do.
This is so beautiful, Karen! I enjoyed the lines through the roots of trees, and learned a lot! The ending, with your honoring of the four kitties, is so lovely and moving! Thank you for sharing!
After life as I knew it
Was destroyed by a wrecking ball,
The remaining pieces ruthlessly smashed,
Then all the rubble set on fire
And reduced to ash -
The only place left to go
Was downward.
I descended into a pit,
Deeper than I could have imagined,
Just when I thought I hit bottom,
It would go deeper still.
In the solitude and silence,
I had space to sort through and untangle
Grief, trauma, heartbreak,
Betrayal, abandonment, abuse,
Harm, confusion, and searing pain.
I pulled the threads,
Made a map of my wounds,
And screamed at the agony of healing.
As I metabolized all that was
Forever life-altering,
I learned from dwelling
In the depth of the pit
That I am
And always have been
Beloved.
Thank you for this moving, honest and powerful poem! I live the ending, and agree with you/you/we are beloved!
Underland
Round the hole we gather,
Wooden box no match for your spirit, soaring even as we pray,
Reading poems to comfort ourselves
To let loose the healing
You brought in every step.
I hope to be set free on a mountain breeze,
Gifted to the ocean which has soothed me,
sprinkled in the forests which have sheltered me from the storms,
Time after time.
Underland, Mother Earth,
High above, Transforming sky,
All sacred when we honor the
Mysteries within and without,
When we plant seeds of hope
That take deep roots
As we water them with love.
How moving, Larry! Thank you for this look at life and death and life eternal.
Thank you Margaret!
"All sacred when we honor the mysteries within and without" - Yes 🧡
Day 10: Underland
The Devil Card in tarot
Scares people
The whips, chains
The large creature with horns
Lording over their misery.
Hades, brother of Zeus
Ruled the underworld.
Afraid, unnerved, deep down
These figures remind us
Of parts of ourselves.
Exiles,
We’ve hidden, banished.
To be loved.
If we listened to the land like we do TikTok,
She would be trending hard.
The worms know.
The compost teems with
The shit we thought we could discard.
We seek the dark places
For refuge
Shadows
Caves
The covers of a bed.
The land whispers, “Right relationship”
Like a lullaby
Reminding us our nightmares
Are merely parts of us we have yet to welcome
Back into the circle.
This is brilliant, Vanessa. Your words are so powerful and so artfully constructed!
Each of your prompts and poems have me diving and digging deeper than I thought I could or would go. Sometimes that’s scary, but doing so with a wisdom guide and a cadre of beloved poets makes it accessible and less frightening for! Thank you Kaitlin and poetic wonders!