Poetry
When I Breathe the Summer Air
DEP Summer Contest
When I began experimenting with writing, a great many obstacles stood in my way. The first I found was my environment — at the time, a crowded study room. That is when I took a step backward, away from people and into an isolationist’s dream, the outdoors.
From there, I found my thoughts bubble more violently and the words present themselves clearer than they had when I locked myself in a space of chaos and distraction. And it wasn’t until I had been touched by the glow of the summer sun did my real imagination erupt.
I wrote this poem specifically about that moment when I realized what I had been missing. It explores every part of the outdoors that grappled with my imagination, guiding my thoughts through a journey they had not known before.
When I breathe the summer air, However distant my mind had become, A gust of wind electric, Joyous as the rising sun And the waving of lively willows Awakens a slumbered fascination, A dream emerging not by night But by the healing light of day, Enough to capture in warm hands The upsurge of imagination, How it wanders through fields of tulips — A rainbow of natural wonder — Watching on with majesty And unabashed excitement Until the gates are locked open And journeys, jubilant, ignite, Finding the truth as it is bare: “Just as the sun is strongest, Too is my inspiration.”
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