POETRY

We Are Vapor

A poem about our collective consciousness.

We are a vacuous vapor, suspended in a cloud of possibilities. Frivolous and without direction, we begin to swell. Commingled and unprepared, we are violently jettisoned, thrust into a world bustling and indifferent.

We are a steady stream, already in inexorable progress. Countless numbers have preceded us over eons, and we take our place in an eternal meandering line. Countless more will follow, bending the same grass.

We are a roiling river carving our initials into the earth. Careening off the same rocks as those before us, we are ignorant of their failures, oblivious to their triumphs. With reckless abandon, we charge, carefree and connected.

We are a wild waterfall, resplendent with joy, dancing downward, floating, uninhibited and free. Unaware of how it will end, or when, or where, we blissfully and blindly splash into the waters below.

We are a languid lake, serene, still, the same in form, but different than we once were. When once we whirred and rushed and cascaded, now we ripple gently, warmed by the evening sun.

We once more are vapor, striving, ascending to the clouds. Once more we return to the earth in vicious starkness, cosmically connected to all that came before, and all who will follow behind.

There is no beginning, and there is no end.

Thanks for reading.

This was my first original poem in more than 30 years, since I stopped writing as a teenager. I recently resolved in The Fundamental Reason We All Should Write Poetry to write again, and urged everyone to do the same (or write poetry for the first time). Please join me — I created The New and Revived Poets Society as a safe and supportive space where we has-been and would-be poets can reconnect with our muse, share, collaborate, and elevate ourselves through poetry!

To see more, please visit my Medium profile, or my publication, The New and Revived Poets Society. Please click here if you would like to receive an email whenever I publish a story.