Sparks #1 - S P L E N D O R

poetry prompt + exchange for the week of July 9th, 2023

Hello beautiful friends <3 How are you doing today? 

I’m coming to you still tenderly, but oh so gratefully, in this very first post of my new weekly prompt series, Sparks :) It’s good to be back, home creating where I want to be, especially at this time when all of life is vulnerable, exposed, and growing. 

In that spirit, and the start of something new, welcome! 

But first: it’s been a little while – what’s going on in your life these days? 

Fireflies in the bush at night in Thailand, long exposure shot

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This week, splendor.

I’ve been chewing and chewing on this word a fair bit now, around 3 weeks (long for me). Like really going at it. Abundant yet ineffable, there’s a lot I’ve wanted to say about it, to exalt that I feel. 

It also comes after a time where one of the most beloved beings of my life, our family dog, Buddha, has been quite sick, with little clarity. (And unfortunately, at this point, Buddha has so sadly passed away.) Splendor is inherently connected to this best boy (and all the dogs ever – a post on this coming soon), for it is his masterclass and mastery.

Where there is Buddha, there is splendor, and my experience of this majesty has been both alarming (to my system) and breathtaking. 

There’s so much to say and so much to feel about it – I’ll probably be contemplating and talking about it in my writing a lot ahead (I’d go ahead and expect it haha) – but since it’s still so vast, I’ll share a few breadcrumbs instead.

The sweetest good boy on his final day, relaxing in the grass <3

Splendor has the shape of a flower, a force starting from a center point and pushing outwards, spilling past norms and boundaries to make “accurate” and “luminous.” It is part of the star stuff of “quantum leaps” and sweeps us off our feet as it pushes us forward. Like so many things, it is on the side of a splendid world. 

God bless it, Splendor is very subtle and impacts with precision, a strike knowing where it needs to be and when for the maximum opportunity. It is wise and it is grace.

To accompany this theme and my poem, I wanted to share with you this wonderful piece of writing from the great

Sherman Alexie

. Be sure to listen to the audio for the strongest experience. 

Indian Fireworks

I invite you to take note of the Splendor in your life, if only just for a moment. What do you see? 

Much love to you all <3 

---

Splendor

Puppy is scared by the
Crackle of fireworks,
But all I can see 
Are the fireflies twinkling majestic in the trees
.
.
Change blooming
Like a firework unfurling, 
It’s the time to release and
Restore, celebrate
Old habits for new ideals,
Come undone to 
Come alive.
Radiant
The blossom, 
Explosion outwards to 
Name the edge and hit it,
Be a supernova where the line has
Already been drawn in the sand.
They say.
Whether it’s the last 
Breath 
Or still only the next,
You’re brilliant
And I love you.
And it doesn’t change
The blossom unfurling with us,
The stoic and their portals,
Because we’ve already set it in motion,
Racing in all its splendor.

I hear the fireworks,
More and more eager 
     Safety, first
But I see the fireflies,
Glittering in their splendid scores
Amongst the trees

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