In Impossible Darkness – Kim Rosen

Do you know how
the caterpillar
turns?

Do you remember
what happens
inside a cocoon?

You liquefy.

There in the thick black
of your self-spun womb,
void as the moon before waxing,

you melt

(as Christ did
for three days
in the tomb)

conceiving
in impossible darkness
the sheer
inevitability
of wings.

Kim Rosen

 

I was staying at the house of a friend in Dublin a couple of weeks ago and a book almost jumped off her well-laden bookshelves: ‘Saved by a Poem‘ by Kim Rosen (little gem of an interview with her here). That evening I took the book to bed and by the time I was ready for sleep I was deeply nourished by what I’d read, and had taken pictures of several poems and lists of recommended poetry books to take with me the next morning. And now this particular poem came back to mind, as I’m feeling terribly hemmed in and comfortably cozy in turns during these corona days. What wings are growing in the cocoons of our houses? And what melting is required to come out more beautiful and free at the end of this period?!

Go well and melt softly, connecting again and again with what’s important…

Photo by elaine alex on Unsplash