And if I am also someone else? Bearing the ship, the fools, the edge of the cliff above the valley, the shadows, the death—acres and acres of endings. An echo, turning inside out and upside down.
What are my real parameters? Where is that world located, the one that is opposite, a mirror of this one? Do I even know anything about navigation, understand what it is? A moon wrapped in brown paper, perhaps, opening and closing the holes in time. A compass completely reversed, remattered.
Sometimes I catch a glimpse of that other me, a brief flash on the edge of the dark, invisible, yet fully present. All at once, nowhere, I become the voyage itself, shored with lunemares, sailing without destination, spinning beyond gravity.
Outside my life remains uneasy, breath held, waiting for the whirling center to draw it in, under.
Brendan at earthweal asks: What then is this wild dark?
Carol Ann Duffy replies, via Bjorn at dVerse: It is a moon wrapped in brown paper
K. 
Without the moon and stars, how do we navigate anything? We ignore the sky, keep our eyes bent to our phones, that other world that we prefer to the one the moon shines upon.
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I hadn’t really thought of that aspect, but of course that’s the crux of it, isn’t it?
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The things we actually need we often take for granted and don’t even notice. Most of us have a different scale of priorities.
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Remattered. Feels like this is what our lives have become.
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That’s only too true.
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I love the lines about becoming the voyage yourself. A wonderful write.
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Thanks Sherry.
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This has to be one of the deepest dives into “self” I have read! Cheers.
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Thanks Helen.
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“A moon wrapped in brown paper, perhaps, opening and closing the holes in time.” Powerful, especially with the illustration and the lunamares that come later–are they moon beams? Perhaps I am up a wrong path, but i think of full moon crazes, and how wild that can be.
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Thanks Susan. I was thinking of both the lunatic/nightmare connection and mare as the seas of the moon, and both those could go off on intersecting tangents as well. Language has many layers.
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Dang. That is a very cool bit of writing. Love how you answered one prompt with another and you did it so well.
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Thanks D. They just seemed to flow into one another.
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The art is perfect in reflecting the poetry! Opening and closing the holes in time resonated with me!!
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Thanks Muri. I always like when something I do resonates with someone else.
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“Shored with lunamares” is so striking, and complex. I love how everything here is disorienting and an invitation to orient to a new skyscape.
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Thanks Sun. Disorienting is just the right word.
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There is so much to think about here. I especially liked the vivid imagery of:
“All at once, nowhere, I become the voyage itself, shored with lunemares, sailing without destination, spinning beyond gravity.”
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Thanks Merril. Two good prompts that played off each other for me.
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Without the guides of the sky we would be lost.
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That’s true, Bjorn. More of us should acknowledge it.
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You have taken your prose poem into the realms I wished to venture into in my response to the Earthweal prompt. Mine stayed on the surface, yours plunged deep. I got a lot out of reading it.
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Thanks Suzanne. I’m glad it resonated with you. (K)
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For me this was very structural, building dark mind with mad language — a noctilucent blueprint — the heart on a night sea journey to a moon rapt in brown paper. Very well done Kerfe.
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“The heart on a night sea journey “–that’s beautiful Brendan. Thanks.
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‘Sometimes I catch a glimpse of that other me, a brief flash on the edge of the dark, invisible, yet fully present.’ – a wonderfully haunting image, Kerfe. I like how the two prompts came together so naturally for you.
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Thanks Ingrid. I didn’t intend it, but sometimes writing has its own ideas.
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The two prompts beautifully played off each other in your deeply introspective piece.
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Thanks!
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This is so beautiful and speaks to me and my work in so many ways –
Thank you for sharing
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Thank you for your kind words Ahka.
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“A moon wrapped in brown paper, perhaps, opening and closing the holes in time. A compass completely reversed, remattered.” This is incredibly deep and gorgeous writing! Sigh 💝💝
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Thanks Sanaa.
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