On Watery Emotions, Shapes of Growth, Earth in Three Narratives, Embroidered Upcycles and Quiet or Loud Keys to Truth

a poetry collection with KTHT prompts

Day 1: Delving into the water realms of emotion

Watery Realms of Emotion

once wet, all moist, uncomfortable, pruney, somehow, a single stray hair already made its way halfway down my throat, yet another, stuck like a leech on my back so much it feels like a bug, trying to crawl right up SITTING UNCOMFORTABLE

yet others sit comfortably embracing the comforting envelope of water, swimmers, scuba divers, talking about the serenity of returning to something as comforting as their mother’s womb, surrounded by amniotic fluid LOVED AND SAFE

water as such a good metaphor for emotions, and how we as a collective have different relationships with it

Author’s note: This is so funny because water-wise, I fall in the first category (I hate the feeling of being moistened — can you tell by my use of words?) and my partner falls into the second category where swimming and scuba diving are his second skin. Yet, in emotions I bask, and away from emotions he escapes. We can only support each other in getting comfortable with the discomfort when either of us are curious to explore the depths of either water or emotion.

Day 2: A constant, cyclic state of growth and change

Growing in shapes

We may have learned at our earliest that growth is linear, a simplification that might have been needed to introduce simple concepts, like simplified Lewis dot diagrams with electrons spread equidistant apart; inaccurate in entirety but providing a stepping stone towards understanding spdf orbitals.

Could life actually be circular? Many religions, cultures describe the concept of reincarnation, of life beginning, ending, recycled again mimicking nature in its beautiful cycles.

But could it also be square? In circles I think of roundabouts, a steady stream driving, weaving in and out of traffic softly, but unfortunately life feels more like square, rectangular intersections of waiting and waiting at stoplights long, fast, freeways, HONKING, and scary left turns.

Or maybe growth is a metamorphosis between an amorphous blob, difficult to describe, hazy at the edges, to the clarity of a single dot, laser-focussed.

Author’s note: It’s always so fun to play with shapes and other visuals when relating to abstract concepts. I find that I’m such a visual person that this really helps me adequately describe something that can usually be elusive.

Day 3: Ancient and eternal connection with Gaia

Grounded in soil, in mother Gaia’s embrace, connected with the trees, who have witnessed the world far longer than we have, reaching towards the sky, yet sheltering us from the elements.

Author’s note: It’s so interesting examining the depiction of Gaia and her story because this connection with the earth is not my story. This Greek myth is most popular in reference to nature around me, but as I examine my relationship with the earth, other influences have been far stronger.

As a settler on Anishinabek and Haudenosaunee lands, the earth we stand on is called Turtle Island.

Settlers’ renaming of Turtle Island to North America is reflective of the anglicization (modification of non-English words into English) of Indigenous place names and stories. (Amanda Robinson)

As a child, I saw deities such as 土地神, usually represented by a masculine character when compared to other familiar figures like guan yin is represented as feminine (which for some reason is consistently acted on TVB — Hong Kong’s most popular channel, by Joyce Koi). Relative to deities of other elements like 海龍王 (water dragon king???), 土地神 is a minor deity. Deities were more commonly associated with the sky or the ocean than water, so I’ve never really thought about my connection to the earth.

Day 4: Journey of undoing, being and becoming

Thrifted and plain, hems fraying, ready to be upcycled.

undoing undoing the broken stitches, re-sewn to fit my shoulders, my chest, my body; embroidered to display my personality, interests and love.

being existing as clothing an element of expression, defying the destiny of the landfill, re-imagined in a new life

becoming something else, something better, with practiced nimble fingers.

Author’s note: Although I’m not yet at this stage of being able to upcycle clothes like this, I’m on my way, and I’m really excited!

Day 5: The keys to discovering the answers you seek

seeking: loud and soft

Key 1: quiet seeking I was a quiet seeker, absorbing information, whether it came to my senses raw and unfiltered,

whether it came to me in neatly structured chapters and paragraphs, modifying how I might see the world in the future.

Key 2: talking seeking but now I am a talking seeker, in search for new information after feeling quite saturated with it all,

needing to vomit these thoughts out on to some canvas, some other mind, ready to absorb (sorry, friend) partially digested thoughts in hopes that some other’s lens, some other’s understanding might smooth it all out.

Author’s note: This title really reminds me of Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking: Fast and Slow, even though I had retroactively named this based on the poem structure. It’s weird how far a good book or a good piece of writing can influence you this far, right? But also not weird and entirely within expectations. That’s why I read, after all!

Also, sorry that metaphor turned a bit visceral. But is that not what the thinking process is like? Sometimes engendering shapeless (hopefully odorless) goop that you want to pour into the mind of a supportive friend.

Hi I’m Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) and I’m late to this, but finally diving into Diana C.’s 30 day poetry challenge! I’m splitting the 30 prompts into chunks of five! Stay tuned for the rest of the responses :)

^ by Tatum Hamernik