Hie Me to a Hollow

The news is grim:
Austerity bites
fuel poverty enriches black gold coffers
we need to use less, use less
useless to try and stop them.
Will their fortunes restore all that we have lost?
They wouldn’t care to:
Let’s extract and extract and all the while distract the masses with trivia
(forgetting we’re all freezing here)
create paradise in a bubble
retreat into it.
When the prophesied time comes
I see bubbles bursting 
from oily burps in tarpool slop
to fortunes made from others’ misfortune 
down
to nuclear holocaust.
It doesn’t make for cheerful reading
but remember there are better things
even in worst times, there are better things:
The hollow within which we grow, cocooned
nine blissful moons
the hollow tree shielding the humble squirrel
the hollow in between your neck and shoulder
hie me to a hollow, hie me hither
here to rest, to nest, to sleep and shelter
here to live, to love
to give
to live
to love you.

© 2022 experimentsinfiction.com. All Rights Reserved.

Written for earthweal

For this week’s challenge, Lindi has given us the following:

Our challenge this week is to explore our ability to act.

What does right action, right living look like in your world? What does it look like when the boundaries between nature and the observing self disappear?

Write yourself into your landscape, what shapes you there and what is shaped by you? Name the gods of your rivers and skies, tell us how you live by and through them and how they live through you — let the world know they are holy!

43 thoughts on “Hie Me to a Hollow

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    1. Thank you Punam: it is difficult not to get phased by it, but getting phased by it means the forces of darkness have won, and I won’t allow that!

  1. The fierce anger of the first part of your poem and then the wonder, awe and love for nature are such a powerful enactment of being fully present in your reality during these extreme times.

      1. The rage, despair and frustration have to be expressed as loudly as the affirmations of the beauty of nature I believe.

  2. So much to love here, Ingrid. The flow and rhythm seem to suggest the poem came to you as one: gifted; quite divine…

    ‘I see bubbles bursting
    from oily burps in tarpool slop
    to fortunes made from others’ misfortune
    down
    to nuclear holocaust.’

  3. Ingrid, I am sorry for the sufferings in Europe. I know you are at the mercy of a madman. May he fall of his own weight into a bubbling tar pool! May we all develop clean sources of energy that prevent us from ever again being at the mercy of imported oil.

    The US is also suffering from rising inflation, and I have heard predictions of a global recession next year. We have shale oil, but it was shut down because of environmental concerns. Pumping from conventional wells has been stepped up. I am not sure whether they plan to start fracking again. Clean energy sources seem to be the best way forward.

    Your poem is gorgeous, almost a stream of consciousness. I enjoyed the way it flows from the misery of the current situation into reflections about refuges in nature and finally into the ultimate refuge… love!

    Take care, Ingrid. <3

    1. Thank you so much, Cheryl: our government is in disarray, while working people struggle to heat their homes. I think there is a valuable lesson about not wasting energy, but it also requires competent leadership to invest in green energy solutions! Here’s hoping things change fast enough to make a difference 💚

  4. This is wonderful, finding the beauty and solace in the Now, in spite of the darkness Out There. I love the beauty of your natural setting , shown so well in the photo.

  5. I adore this write. Powerful in its standpoint, and elegant in its cascade of words. This is my fav, “The hollow within which we grow, cocooned
    nine blissful moons” Amazing write, Ingrid!

  6. Grief and hope, those are the binary stars in our 21st century system. Despair and hollows. Raging human world and cocoon of nature’s womb.

  7. I couldn’t agree with the mood and the teeth and the resolution of this poem more. I only hope I live long enough to see those “…bubbles bursting/from oily burps in tarpool slop..” and the ruin so thoughtlessly pushed come home to roost. Love your header pic, and your ending is all the comfort we can take, or need, these days.

    1. I think we are already seeing the ruin come home to roost…unfortunately it affects the poorest before it affects those most responsible. Thank you, Hedgewitch!

  8. I love the turning inside for real and solace in this. The slow decent through all that is wrong in the world to find shelter within ourselves and each other. So beautifully written.

  9. I often rage at what we humans have done to earth, yet I feel nature comforting me. Birdsong, blooms, and the gentle floating of a leaf as it takes its journey to earth fill me with wonder. I feel unconditional love from Mother Earth. It urges me to be a better person, to not just look but see the gifts of life as close as my back door.

  10. Excellent writing Ingrid. I can almost no longer look directly into the eyes of our decline as a species. I truly feel it is what has caused my rapidly declining health. I now distract myself with lighter fare of love and wonder — only occasionally wandering into the toxic darkness. I certainly know it’s there, but it’s become too toxic for me. Bravo to you and those that can sustain a prolonged gaze into the growing void. I can but quickly glance, comment, and seek higher ground.

  11. I love this Ingrid.
    Superb haunting words so true :”Let’s extract and extract and all the while distract the masses with trivia
    (forgetting we’re all freezing here)”
    Your close is near and dear to my heart ❤️💗❤️

  12. The darkness lurks waiting to crush ones spirit. Too much greed and pain in the world. I am grateful that there are still beams of light found.

    but, remember there are better things….

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