Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EDT October 17th 2025

15 Comments

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read a poem “I Am Vertical” by Sylvia Plath, posted below.

Our prompt was: “Write about an open conversation with the sky.”

Participants are warmly encouraged to share what you wrote below (“Leave a Reply”), to keep the conversation going here, bearing in mind that the blog of course is a public space where confidentiality is not assured.

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Please join us for our next session Wednesday October 29th at 6pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

“I Am Vertical” by Sylvia Plath

But I would rather be horizontal.
I am not a tree with my root in the soil
Sucking up minerals and motherly love
So that each March I may gleam into leaf,
Nor am I the beauty of a garden bed
Attracting my share of Ahs and spectacularly painted,
Unknowing I must soon unpetal.
Compared with me, a tree is immortal
And a flower-head not tall, but more startling,
And I want the one’s longevity and the other’s daring.

Tonight, in the infinitesimal light of the stars,
The trees and flowers have been strewing their cool odors.
I walk among them, but none of them are noticing.
Sometimes I think that when I am sleeping
I must most perfectly resemble them—
Thoughts gone dim.
It is more natural to me, lying down.
Then the sky and I are in open conversation,
And I shall be useful when I lie down finally:
The the trees may touch me for once, and the flowers have time for me.

Credit: Sylvia Plath

15 thoughts on “Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EDT October 17th 2025”

  1. Stef's avatar Stef

    Always above me

    Looking down

    But not in a judgmental way

    More like You are keeping an eye on me

    Thanks

    I need to be watched

    Observed

    Hovered over

    Encompassed by One 

    Who sees it all

    Who sees all

    Who sees me

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  2. Aman Chaudhary's avatar Aman

    Sometimes the sky it loud,
    And sometimes it’s quiet.
    The sunrise can whisper a secret.
    The sunset can shout for joy.
    The thunderclouds and lightning scream!

    And what do I say back?
    What can I tell the sky that it hasn’t already heard?
    What can I show the sky that it hasn’t already seen?
    Perhaps the hidden worlds
    Within.

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    • michele348's avatar michele348

      Aman, what, indeed, do we do that the sky hasn’t seen before? But the thing is, we are each unique, our inner being is unique, our reactions to the universe are each unique with our own fingerprint upon them. So, maybe the sky has much to learn from looking down upon us.

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    • Trevor Hebert's avatar Trevor Hebert

      The question is: What can you show and say to something thats seen everything?

      Im still thinking about this and its been over 12 hours. Nothing seems “good” or notable enough.

      Thank you for this Aman! Always a pleasure, sir.

      Like

      Reply
  3. Emily Akins's avatar Emily Akins

    Every morning is a strange combination of hurrying and waiting. Waking up the sleepy head and hurrying her along then keeping her away while she awaits her turn in the shower. Calling out how many stops away the bus is, how soon it will arrive. Hurrying, frantic, but also waiting for the girls to come downstairs, waiting to usher them out the door. We’re all also so groggy and tired. Longing for our beds. But hurrying on with our day. I usually stand on the front step and watch the girls walk in the dark to the bus stop at the end of the block. But today Clara asked if I would accompany her in order to retrieve her smoothie cup once she’d finished her smoothie. And as we walked I looked up and through the trees which I always think of as so old I saw something much much older – the stars in the early morning sky. The consolation Orion – his 3-starred belt – as steady as can be. Not frantic, not loud, not in a hurry. But also, if we’re honest, not 100% stationary either. Even he has had some place to go for eons.

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    • michele348's avatar michele348

      Emily, as you said, we all have seemingly a place to go…always in a rush, schedules to adhere to. And as you pointed out, even Orion is on the move.

      Orion has to keep all us earth dwellers on our toes!

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  4. Trevor Hebert's avatar Trevor Hebert

    I walk among them, but none of them are noticing.

    the greatest strength is of the weakest link as I, and you, and we, combined are the sum of all parts.

    I think, I wonder, I ponder is it they that see me not or is it in that sees not myself, my light or my truth?

    The necessary focus to deliver on promises made, I look to the sky with undivided attention. This misdirection simply another deviation I will stand for no more.

    I can replace energy and displace it elsewhere but time has no recourse.

    no replay, no rewind, simply present day with no future.

    to live in this moment, the die in this nervous display, live with no delay.

    I share my life, my love, my wisdom, my soul… all that which I do not play.

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    • michele348's avatar michele348

      Trevor, you bring up an important question…to what extent the world around us takes notice of our existence. We must take time to reassure ourselves that we do matter, that our words and actions are important, even if the world seems deaf and blind.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  5. michele348's avatar michele348

    About an open conversation with the sky~~~

    Today, a brilliant blue sky stretches above me,
    with not a cloud in sight…
    a rarity for October.

    The songbirds have departed,
    leaving the autumn air relatively silent,
    except for the sound of a lingering cricket.

    As I look above,
    I wonder who might be looking down upon me…
    my Creator, my departed loved ones,
    or do they all have better things
    to do with their time?

    I wonder if this same sky hangs over
    war-torn Gaza and Ukraine…
    if so, would it offer hope to those
    who have lost so much?

    As the chill of autumn air brushes against me
    and I take in the vastness of the sky,
    I am in awe…
    my smallness in contrast with the limitless nature
    of the Universe.

    I am grateful to be alive.

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    • Trevor Hebert's avatar Trevor Hebert

      “what would they do with their time?” “Would it offer hope for those who’ve lost so much” “I am grateful to be alive.”

      Every. Single. Verse. Ends with a big bang. Kinda like the universe!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  6. Naomi Kramer's avatar Naomi Kramer

    “An open conversation with the sky”

    The sky can’t talk

    but offers so much

    with light and sound

    touch and smell

    swirls all around

    to lift our spirits and tell

    to us soft soothing, crooning

    wind wispering wishes

    encouragement to carry on,

    carry on, and we will

    with wishes full

    carry onwards with the sky

    my hope

    my sons will hear

    this unspoken conversation

    from sea to tree

    from salty winds to rustling leaves

    to deep evergreen silence

    with the sky far above

    and the sky close by

    the wordless conversation

    carries us on.

    Like

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    • michele348's avatar michele348

      Naomi, as you point out, there is much to be heard from the sky, along with ocean waters, winds rustling leaves, and the silence of the deep forest. There is the hope that the following generation will, too, hear these sacred sounds.

      Like

      Reply
  7. al3793's avatar al3793

    Write about an open conversation with the sky

    Except for a crystal clear day when all you show is blue

    You are a mystery

    You are never the same.

    You tell me to savor each moment

    Ever so briefly since

     what I see in one moment

    Will never be the same.

    You know I like the gentle sweet hues

    Of the sunrise and sunset,

    The fluffy whites, the reds, orange, yellow, purples

    That you share.

    You say don’t forget all the shades of gray and black

    That billow as storms arise

    And not overlook their ominous beauty.

    afl 10.17.2025

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    • michele348's avatar michele348

      The sky, just like life, never the same, changeable as fronts move through.

      But through its illumination, its darkness..it is a constant, it is a space that causes us to lift up our heads, and for that, I give it thanks.

      Thank you for the visuals your words created. They became colors on the palette within the mind.

      Like

      Reply

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