Live Virtual Group Session: 6PM EST November 27th 2023

6 Comments

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read a poem “Under Ideal Conditions” by Al Zolynas, posted below.

Our prompt was: “Write about losing the light.”

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Please join us for our next session Friday December 8th at 12pm EST, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

 "Under Ideal Conditions" by Al Zolynas

say in the flattest part of North Dakota
on a starless moonless night
no breath of wind

a man could light a candle
then walk away
every now and then
he could turn and see
the candle burning

seventeen miles later
provided conditions remained ideal
he could still see the flame

somewhere between the seventeenth and eighteenth mile
he would lose the light

if he were walking backwards
he would know the exact moment
when he lost the flame

he could step forward and find it again
back and forth
dark to light light to dark

what's the place where the light disappears?
where the light reappears?
don't tell me about photons
and eyeballs
reflection and refraction
don't tell me about one hundred and eighty-six thousand
miles per second and the theory of relativity

all I know is that place
where the light appears and disappears
that's the place where we live

originally published by Laterthanever Press, 1994, San Diego CA
Copyright Al Zolynas

6 thoughts on “Live Virtual Group Session: 6PM EST November 27th 2023”

  1. michele348's avatar michele348

    About losing the light~~~

    Once the beam of light almost blinded me… it was so abundant and constant.
    It guided me on life’s path and never led me astray.
    Although the world placed
    twists and turns before me
    to push me off course,
    I placed my complete trust in it
    for it was my beacon in the darkness.

    But then the noise and fury of the world
    became so loud… bombs, rockets, and fire…
    splattering blood everywhere,
    spreading death everywhere.

    I closed my eyes to block out the horror.
    When I reopened them,
    my beacon of light was no longer.
    I was in darkness.
    I was blind.
    I was in despair.

    Cowering in the darkness, I felt a hand on my shoulder.
    A strong and calm voice said,
    “Be not afraid, I am with you.”
    And so it was…
    my beacon of light reappeared
    and illuminated the darkness.
    The noise and fury of the world
    subsided.
    My path lies before me
    illuminated in light…
    a light that will bring me home.

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  2. Elizabeth's avatar Elizabeth

    lost and found

    up and down

    back and forth

    dark and light

    a roller coaster ride

    the question is

    do we choose to always live life in the binary

    at times holding on for dear life

    or

    can we make our way

    to the golden middle path

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    • michele348's avatar michele348

      Elizabeth… you’re correct the world often forces us to choose one of two alternatives, but in reality, life is usually not so definitive. As you said, maybe the best choice is the one in the middle(the golden one). I wish the governments of the world would come up with this novel approach… then wars could, potentially, become obsolete.

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      Reply
  3. Sorella's avatar Sorella

    Going back through my journal, I found my entry for this session, in response to the prompt: “Write about losing the light.”

    After the third attempt
    your landlord puts in new
    lights, and a small camera
    looking down on the
    driveway, the broken glass,
    the breaking tool cast aside,
    and the stray who comes by
    most days, crying for her
    sardines. Solar powered
    security, sensitive
    to motion, its charge lasts
    only one night, thanks to
    the winter overcast.
    You watch the gray footage
    until it ends: headlights,
    taillights, hungry creature
    passing in the dark.

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