#poetsandwriters

[zaahrawrites]

[cryptonature]

Sunday Seeds #12

[Weekly newsletter of wonder, whimsy, and a writing prompt]

Something in the Woods Loves You is getting a paperback edition this October. That way, if you fall asleep in bed while reading it, the danger of bonking yourself in the head with the book is much less severe. You can preorder now!

Wonder:

Part of migratory birds’ navigation system involves the wonderfully named cryptochromes, light-activated proteins in the retina that help birds orient themselves using the Earth’s magnetic field. As autumn approaches, I’ll think of this each time I look up and see a V of geese flying south. There’s so much poetry in all of the forces, the chemistry, making that flight possible. Sunlight. Gravity. The turning liquid metals in our planet’s core generating a magnetic field. That flying V in the pale autumn sky will be an expression of each of these wonders.

Whimsy:

Termites chew wood and hate sunlight, just like a beaver who has been bitten by a vampire. That’s an important fact to remember. It’s also important to remember that “term” can be used as a verb meaning to name or describe. So… Termites might term wood a delight, if termites could term wood. Termites might term sunlight a blight, if termites only could.

Writing Prompt:

Describe a moment in which you didn’t have the energy to live your values, to be kind or curious or patient. Did you manage to surprise yourself and do the kind thing anyway? Did you earn a new regret? Did you forgive yourself? Explore this moment and then zoom-out, imagining how such moments and struggles shape the world.

Bonus for Supporters: A Poem (usually unlocked via my Substack or Patreon, but this one is for everybody)

Kitchen Window

Treat every moth struggling against your kitchen window like it is the soul of a dear friend you never chanced to meet. Treat its frantic flutters as your own panicked breath caged inside your ribs and starving to find gentleness in the dark. Such care will cost you a moment. An extra worry. And will teach you that our world is kind because tired people, swaying in dim kitchens won’t let it be otherwise.

[dippeddeeply]

[dippeddeeply]

[musingsoftwistedpoet]

And so light crawls in

over the horizon

bringing day upon its back

I’ve woken already

however unfortunate

must face away, tis a bit too bright

though watery eyes set their mark

wearily hurrying along somewhere

Waiting for precarious notions

to pass on

[zaahrawrites]

[poetrythreesixfive]

Trump vs Putin

When incompetence is paired with hubris,

as often is the case, the greatest danger

is that those who harbor the dual traits of

expertise paired with malice can easily

take advantage of an intelligence vacuum

and manipulate the world to their liking.

-GeorgeFilip

[f69f96]

Will always remember those words like, how I remember that the sky is blue, is not really a fact but is there when you look at first glance. I don't have time to reflect on everything and purposefully thought it out each time. Wonderful that deep down isn't true but, I'll always look at it and see blue. Isn't it?