Earth

[Lykren]

Fill the deep well
with sand and soil.

In holy times,
there was little movement.

You leaned against the well
for years and years.

It hurt your back,
such stillness.

Then you shuffled your feet
and began to dig.



Thank you for your comments.

[blank|verse]

A thoughtful and intriguing poem, Lykren, which leaves the reader to fathom the meaning of what the well represents metaphorically, and who is the ‘you’ of the poem.

It could be interpreted in a number of ways. Given the title ‘Earth’ and the mention of how ‘In holy times’ (which puts me in mind of Blake’s ‘in ancient times’) ‘there was little movement’ – it could be suggested that this represents how people willingly accepted creationism until they ‘began to dig’ and found dinosaur bones and fossils and began to question received wisdom. But where does that leave the opening imperative: ‘Fill the deep well | with sand and soil’. Does this suggest that these inconvenient truths should be hidden? Or that other believers are giving this order? It’s unclear.

Alternatively, the well could be seen as representing the imagination or creativity. Where that leaves the mention of ‘holy times’, and again, why the well should be filled, I’m not sure. Perhaps there’s a bit of both. That the creative imagination leads to new ideas, although some of them are unfortunate enough to question the world-views of others?

Overall, I found the poem a bit too sketchy and unrewarding. It’s certainly thought-provoking, but I feel perhaps the poem doesn’t quite express the thought or feeling behind it adequately enough.

And thank you for continuing to write, despite a dearth of comments.

[Lykren]

Thanks for commenting.

[Mohammad Ahmad]

OK! no problem to be simple in your verses, poetry is like a mirror which reflexes the light, but to reveal an image over images...
So I mightily feel you always moving yourself away of complexity, however, I would like to invoke a blessing on your thin soul...