Captivated: A Prose Poem

Wednesday Prose Poem: the inserted story

Photo by Andrey Andreyev on Unsplash

Swallowed whole by the night – some stars – eyes in the distance set into a purple blanket – something smooths in the liquid air –

Caught between caverns and pools – tripped up forever by the gaze – this is captivated breathing – taking in as much as the bottle will hold – will handle and pour over you when the day finally ends –

Roads and other altars slide farther away – ash and brush populating stray thoughts for a second or two – stranded and incomplete – scanning the horizon for a slight trace –

Tragedy isn’t here – the papered woods and grass – each holding and spilling their own ink – every hand lifted to beg the crows and hawks for just one quill –

But the myth hasn’t gone anywhere either — soak up some story — the goddess delivers a trick through the distance to morning — when some of us get to sleep —reaching for passion to inscribe more

Into the script — and the sensory becomes so wound in words and wonder — you’ll miss a step

If you try to get up and walk —

J.D. Harms 2021

Prompt:

Stories, narratives, myth. We work through various elements to tell our stories, write our experience, and create an…