Here is the image for the December Invite to Write:
The whale is the physical manifestation of the unknown powers that lurk within the sea. For humanity, whales long represented the power that nature exerts over humanity, as strength and technology are rendered insignificant by the unstoppable force of this creature. As we well know the sea as a metaphor for the unconscious. The whale is a manifestation of the powerful destructive forces within us that we cannot or choose not to see. For the Inuit, the soul of primal woman and whale were seen as the same, again connecting these forces beyond our control with the forces within ourselves. In humanity's destruction of whale populations in the past 300 years, what is the metaphorical significance of these actions in relation to the whale's symbolic meaning? As a powerful force in one's unconscious, where do you see the whale within yourself? Is the whale always a destructive force or does it represent also the powerful response to disturbing forces greater than ourselves?
Image: Whale, steatite, red cinnebar, shell, 16th-17th century, Chumash, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Post your poems here in the forum or email them to info@aras.org . We look forward to reading them! Thank you!
Underwater
1998
Alone on the dock
Of a moonlit lake,
Surrounded by
Forested mountains,
A black island
In moonlit water waited
as I silently dove
Into her midnight realm.
Her water broke
With my diving silhouette
And delivered me to her submerging shadow.
I caressed her with my face and open arms
Like a tiny crucifix pinned to her side.
She accepted my embrace
And dove slowly into the depths,
Teaching me how to survive underwater.
Gliding together in penetrating silence,
Guiding me in the black abyss,
We were fellow travelers
Heavy with destiny,
Searching
For the light
In the dark.