The challenge is to write a metaphor poem that starts with the words ‘This being human is…’
Find it here: https://dversepoets.com/2021/03/16/poetics-the-art-of-being-human/
This being human is the feather on the ledge
of the building made of stone
teetering with each gust of wind
no matter how small
left there by mistake?
not knowing who left it
nor where it will go
dropped by accident or lost?
never finding its way back to its source
for that is too long gone
and has no idea
that its piece
is there
waiting
to
fall.
©2021 CBialczak Poetry
That was brilliant!
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Thank you Josh!
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No worries, keep sharing!
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Great metaphor of our unknowingness
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Thanks for commenting Ron!
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I love the shape of this poem, Christine, and the metaphor is just right for me on a blustery day, with birds in the garden being blown about. How difficult it is for a single feather! I like the way you ponder on how the feather got there and the fact that it will never find its way back. Being human can be that tragic.
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Yes Kim, it is sort of sad but sort of hopeful too that it might be going to a better place than it came.
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A moving reflection on the fragility of life.
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I think we all feel that don’t we? Thank you Ingrid for commenting.
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Wonderful precipice. I had to hold my airy breath, reading this, simultaneously expecting/fearing/wanting to see it vanish in the wind. Lovely metaphor.
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Thank you so much Ron!
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Brilliant in it’s simplicity and form, I enjoyed this poem. Although, I like to think we are right where we need to be on that ledge..🥳🍷
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Tricia, you are so right! Have you ever seen one of those little wispy feathers that is just sitting there teetering but never falling?
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Yes, feathers are funny, they have that ambition to fly off!
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“A feather on the edge” … conjures the impression of our vulnerability. Well penned.
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Thank you Beverly! I just have this image in my mind of this tiny, wispy feather on the concrete ledge of a building….Maybe it is how I am feeling, sort of uneasy wondering where my life is going to go.
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you speak of the struggles and fragility we all experience yet I know we are never given more than we can cope with
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Yes, I do try to remember that I’ve never actually broken completely, even though sometimes it feels as such.
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it sure can feel like that at the time but somehow we muddle through … take care Christine!
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Yes, you too, thank you!
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most welcome!
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And here I remember that hope is the thing with feathers.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42889/hope-is-the-thing-with-feathers-314
so maybe that feather is just waiting to drift somewhere else.
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Thank you for sharing that poem, it is beautiful! I can see why you thought of it!
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Such a wonderful wonderful perspective and I love the shape of the poem! “This being human is the feather on the ledge
of the building made of stone teetering with each gust of wind,”… yes!! 💝💝
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Thank you! I am glad you liked it. It was really the first thing that came to my mind.
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Love the metaphor!
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That feather on the ledge of the teetering building is an apt metaphor, Christine. Wish I could say otherwise 😦
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right?!?!?!
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Very good poem! All we are is feathers in the wind!
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isn’t that a song?
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It is Dust in the wind… all we are is Dust in the wind… by Kansas! :>)
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Oh, I love this! Very cool response to the prompt. A feather on the ledge, prey to prevailing winds….how cool.
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Thank you so much Sherry!
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Brilliant poem, Christine, and thank you so much for the follow! 😊
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