Here is another piece of writing by a participant in the 3-week Succulent Words workshop at Succulence. The exercise was to imagine burying elements from the past year in the ground so that they can be transformed and grow into something new.

 

SLEEP

Deep, dark, dank

Moist, barren

Bad tooth

Decay!

Fetus: anger’s bait and switch

Wilted foliage

Abandoned garden

Untended life

Breathing into another form

 

Zippered words and strength

Stay down!

I shall speak again.

Dirty (not so) old men-

Out!

of my house

Bury… alone

Separate hole.

Alone, alone.

Lost in the woods

?

You are never lost,

Never cold,

Never hungry

You are tired!

Seal a cap on my toil

Bring it to a boil!

Bury the pain first.

 

Natalie Hopner