Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EST December 15th 2021

5 Comments

Thank you to everyone who joined for this session!

For this session we close-read the poem Entangle by Tony Hoagland, posted below.

Our prompt for this session was: “What is better left entangled?” 

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Please join us for our next session Friday December 17th at 12pm EST,  with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions page.

Entangle by Tony Hoagland


Sometimes I prefer not to untangle it.
I prefer it to remain disorganized,

because it is richer that way
like a certain shrubbery I pass each day on Reba Street

in an unimpressive yard, in front of a house that seems unoccupied:
a chest-high, spreading shrub with large white waxy blossoms—

whose stalks are climbed and woven through simultaneously
by a different kind of vine with small magenta flowers

that appear and disappear inside the maze of leaves
like tiny purple stitches.

The white and purple combination of these species,
one seeming to possibly strangle the other,

one possibly lifting the other up — it would take both
a botanist and a psychologist to figure it all out,

—but I prefer not to disentangle it,
because it is more accurate.

My ferocious love, and how it repeatedly is trapped
inside my fear of being sentimental;

my need to control even the kindness of the world,
rejecting gifts for which I am not prepared;

my apparently inextinguishable notion
that I am moving toward a destination

—I could probably untangle it
yet I prefer to walk down Reba Street instead

in the sunlight and the wind, with no mastery
of my feelings or my thoughts,

purple and ivory and green, not understanding what I am
and yet in certain moments remembering, and bursting into tears,

somewhat confused as the vines run through me
and flower unexpectedly.

5 thoughts on “Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EST December 15th 2021”

  1. michele348

    What is better left untangled~~~

    Must we have a plan of life,
    where its stages are dictated by rigid rules?
    What is to be missed by adhering to these restrictions?
    Unexpected journeys with new discoveries of sights and emotions,
    uncovered from under layers of buried thoughts.

    Nature, as a teacher, shows us resiliency in the face of turmoil.
    She escapes the bindings we have placed before her and emerges stronger than before,
    more beautiful than before.
    She is a wise mentor, if only we listen.

    To live in the moment, to be part of the world that surrounds us.
    True freedom brings true beauty.
    To be entangled in the act of living is, in fact, a gift.
    It is the motivator to explore the unknown,
    to discover the true spirit of one’s self,
    to become more than what you thought possible.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  2. Elizabeth

    Our lives could be entangled like wildflowers,
    Which would give a connection, a healthy interdependence.
    On the other hand,
    Things could get very thorny.
    It’s our choice to unknot,
    Or to take the quantum leap.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  3. Scarlet Kinney

    The wild plants…the weeds,
    even those that entwine themselves
    with those that have been tamed;

    The wild, inscrutable sources of creative visions.

    The wild longings of my heart
    for that which is still hidden within the threads of love
    that entangle me with unexpected others.

    I allow it all to be,
    for it is that which supports
    and enriches my life.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. al3793

    Oh, my beloved, we are so much better off
    when left entangled.
    Don’t, you too, prefer it so?

    We know so many who have been soul mates
    attached at the hip all their lives
    and what sometimes messy beauty
    resides there as if colors are permitted to
    run together on an artist’s palette
    yielding a gorgeous menu
    that I would call life
    Our life
    Entangled
    Entwined
    Rich, devoid of money
    Life full of breath.
    beauty and
    ferocious in love.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  5. Helen Mia

    What is better left entangled?

    Clung together like cling film without a centre or anything to divide us
    only the hum of the candles burning reducing in size
    Words and stories flowing in to the wine
    Plummeting into that other worldly place of disorientation
    Falling as if we were melting like chocolate into the hands of the beloved
    Entangled, a lightheaded enmeshment dissolving into minuscule pieces
    Childlike, naïve, playful, sacred, devoted and ageless, the quintessence of love
    Crumbling like dried wheat an amalgamation of one
    Better left entangled
    As time has its own rhythm for those who are too thirsty

    Like

    Reply

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