Whenever the lights go out…

we mutter and complain
about missing the news again
the stereo stops playing
and we live off sandwiches for a while
candles flicker inside
stars twinkle outside
silence is a palpable
buzzing and crackling
inside ears and heads
so we feed it with words
that might not otherwise
have been said.

Kim M. Russell, 2017

Surreal photographic art by Thierry Cohen

Image by French photographer Thierry Cohen found on iliketowastemytime.com 

My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Weekend Mini-Challenge: Juice

Brendan says that recently his little house in Central Florida was bamboozled, flummoxed and baroccocoed by the passing of Hurricane Irma, when they had no power for days. He reflects on the way the world changes without juice and how our suburban daily lives are defined by being online, air conditioned and refrigerated. He says that without clocks, microwave, reading lamps, the Internet, TV and only sparing use of cell phones and laptop, the day reverts back to natural rhythms and definitions.

Which got Brendan to thinking about power and what runs our lives, and a challenge in which he would like us to write poems about power in our lives and the world: family, creativity or instinct; plugging in or playing unhooked; heavenly or earthly powers; the power of life or death; human powers versus nature’s, etc.

23 thoughts on “Whenever the lights go out…”

  2. Wow wow wow. I just love this! The description of what silence sounds like, when everything is turned off, leaving that little buzz, and how that can prompt us to share tender little thoughts with each other. Just beautiful. I think there are just certain times that thoughts cross over easier from one to another, like when in a dim room, sitting with someone and a cup of tea and a pot plant or two for example. Love your capture of that feeling. 😊

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. Face to face conversation is one of the great losses of the digital world; taken such, an unpowered night makes the sharing of words like feeding a common fire. This is so delicate and calm, loved it. When we lost power here after the hurricane our conversation was more laced with bitching and cursing — too much expectation of getting power back soon, I suppose (too much Florida swelter inside, too). Thanks so for joining in the challenge.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. Yes lots of complaints, some issues small like my being unable to get one of the TV station where i view daytime soap; and much much larger, for the folks displaced in the recent storms

    Have a nice weeek

    much love…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. I love your ending — how we’re forced to talk with each other if we don’t have the crutch of electrical gadgets to keep our safe distance. I wonder how many people forced speaking brings together and how many it tears apart…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you, Sarah! Society has got so used to looking at its gadgets, it comes as a shock when they are not available. Talking person to person is so much better, I wonder why they go back to their gadgets when the power comes on.

      Like

      Reply

Leave a reply to Henrietta Watson Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.