Live Virtual Group Session: 6PM EST February 12th 2024

7 Comments

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read a poem “By the Boulder Cluster the Wind” by A. R. Ammons, posted below.

Our prompt was: “I am shaped by…”

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Please join us for our next session Friday February 23rd at 12pm EST, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

By the Boulder Cluster the Wind by A. R. Ammons

By the boulder cluster the wind
struck up a dust-ghost,
A brothering shade and shadow,
And oh I said
that I could live lively as you
and have
no more to die

and the ghost tore
into a shackling shrub
and failed like sleet,
returning
shape’s interference
to clearing


The dust rearranging
to a new breeze
I gave up
the intermediate
paradise
and said so
all things do misty arisings
mistily depart,
shingling down
the rills and ruffles
of nothing-in-between.

Ammons, A. R. “By the Boulder Cluster the Wind.” 
The Hudson Review, vol. 30, no. 3, 1977, pp. 371–371.

7 thoughts on “Live Virtual Group Session: 6PM EST February 12th 2024”

  1. Sorella's avatar Sorella

    the kids don’t like to be perceived

    and they say so online.

    tbh, i don’t like it much either

    but aren’t we all greedy to see

    too much? for example,

    tonight i miss you, so you call.

    in the mirror of the phone

    your face is shaped by shadows

    where the light isn’t strong.

    your body is where i can’t touch.

    first i watch you, then i watch me.

    i shape my face how i want you

    to perceive me; but you see me

    how i am.

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    • michele348's avatar michele348

      Sorella, such an interesting piece! Where do we go to seek reality instead of what our imagination hopes to see? Do we wish to stay hidden away, disguising our flaws? Only to those who truly know us, our faces are laid bare.

      Like

      Reply
  2. michele348's avatar michele348

    What shapes me~~~

    I am shaped by the world
    I see and hear about me…
    for it awaits my presence.

    The call of the mourning dove who sits upon
    the branch of the towering white pine,
    crying its mournful song.

    The beginnings of daffodil and crocus…
    so fragile and exposed…
    waiting their turn to flower and amaze.

    A pair of white-tail deer moving along the tree line,
    searching for food to survive,
    their existence dependent upon their success.

    The face of my granddaughter,
    unable to speak words that I recognize
    but yet I feel her love in her big smile
    and tight hugs about my neck.

    From these encounters,
    I find hope to continue, to explore, and to flourish.
    I am grateful for the impact they have upon
    my heart and mind,
    for they show me the importance
    of savoring individual moments of life.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  3. al3793's avatar al3793

    I Am Shaped by…

    hearts that could only imagine

    what awaited them

    a semantic that one could trust

    carefree days discovering

    nature’s mysteries found in the tree tops,

    under rocks turned over in streams,

    nets-full of life pulled from ponds,

    and the wonder of relationships arguing calls

    during revolving stick ball games in the streets

    That was then…

    …inexperience in life rendered susceptibility

    to remarkable and often unimaginable, unthinkable stories

    of life willingly shared by strangers

    there was no choice but to listen carefully

    and look closely

    so to make sense of how what was heard

    could account for what was seen,

    peeling back layers to see humanity.       

    afl 02.12.24

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    Reply
    • michele348's avatar michele348

      A composite of life… the joyous,carefree time of youth… and then evolving and maturing into adulthood where the glaring realities of the world hit you square in the face. But with discernment, you are able to see truths that are revealed and to make sense of the messiness of the world.

      Your writing always gets me on these tangents🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

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