Muse for Monday

MantraMantra has been singing. It has a lot to do with the subject we will begin tomorrow at the eight o’clock post. The name of tonight’s poem is Empty.

As is the usual case with one-word titles, there is much left to personal interpretation. Before you read on, close your eyes and picture empty. Take this mental image with you.

While some pieces of imagery leave little doubt, others give readers imaginative room to apply themselves inside the verse. As you read this poem, stop when you get to a period to give the words a chance to form an image. See if the images change during the poem.

If you had a hard time with envisioning empty, here is but one example. Let’s begin with my initial vision of empty. Get your vision of empty. Ready?

Empty

Empty

There is nothing left.
Spent, wasted, used, thrown.
An absolute emotional vacuum.
An utter wasteland.
The shadow stretches
And curves and tightens.
The pressure feels good.
Support long missing.
Push it away.
The nothing feels better.
No expectations.
No reality encroaching.
No acceptance needed.
When it is all gone,
The stone is not heavy.
Fallen from the neck
Without hitting the feet.
Nothing to sidestep.
Nothing to pick up.
An empty heart is light,
Needs no effort,
Costs nothing.
Most of all,
Feels nothing.

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© Red Dwyer 2011

Empty

~~~~~~~~~~

What were your empty images? What did the poem make you see? Did it make you feel anything? If so, what? Where was the first place you stepped inside the poem? What was the feeling the poem left behind?


The follow up to this post with the author’s interpretation and discussion is called The Hidden Meaning.

© Red Dwyer 2011-2012
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27 Comments

  1. For most of the poem, I thought of my empty nest.

    Reply
    • How very interesting for me to read it with your “empty” in my mind. It speaks of something completely different! Thank you, Julie.
      Red.

      Reply
  2. Hey put the laptop down and take a dip…
    You’re supposed to be on your vacation
    so hop, skip and take a wonderful leap
    into the pool…

    I will have to call
    back later for this one 🙂

    Have fun Red 🙂 😉

    Androgoth XXx

    Reply
    • When this one went live, I was in the pool! And it felt wonderful. Hope you have had a lovely week. Time to catch up on the comments and posts I have missed whilst lollygagging. Red. 😉

      Reply
      • Hey, how very wicked of you 🙂

        I have just read this one and it
        seems to be a relationship break-up…

        Maybe even a divorce? 🙁

        Androgoth XXx

        Reply
  3. Empty bowl
    Holds the fullness
    of the universe

    Reply
  4. bear

     /  January 9, 2012

    To me its the loss of a loved one, the empty heart got me, Way to go Red! Hope your having fun!

    Reply
    • Aren’t you just the sweetest?! I shall have to collect the ones I got whilst I was away and make a day of it! Thank you, Lorre. Although, I have to wonder what, precisely, is uplifting in the morass of oddities I post…Red.

      Reply
  5. It reminds me of how I felt when I tried to kill myself.

    Everything that mattered to me had been taken away leaving me with nothing to live for.

    Thirteen years on it still hurts to know such betrayal by your friends and family continues onward…

    Love and hugs.

    Prenin.

    Reply
    • I should certainly hope there have come others to help fill the emptiness with kindness and warmth. {HUGZ} Red.

      Reply
  6. An empty box…I thought about death.

    Reply
  7. This is a strange thing to say: there is beauty in emptiness. Very Zen-like…

    Reply
  8. All writers understand about the empty page – it becons and holds one hostage at the same time. One image that came to mind – your vacation – empty of the need to add words to the page, deal with stress, …. Free.

    Reply
    • What a wonderful vision of empty!! I like the way the poem felt when I took that version of empty to it. Very light indeed!

      And you are so right about writers and the empty page. One of these days I will be able to see a blank piece of paper and leave it that way…Yeah, right. Who am I kidding??!!

      Reply

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