I often misplace things within these walls:
my keys, the telephone – it’s cordless –
but never my glasses,
which are always on my nose.
I know I’ll find them again on a shelf
crammed with favourite books
or the table beside my armchair.
In the middle of the night,
when the only light
is the moon shining
through pale curtains,
I know which darkness
is solid and which is
shadow within these walls.
Kim M. Russell, 27th September 2018
My response to Poets United Midweek Motif: The Wall
Sumana is hosting this Midweek’s Motif and she asks us to write a new poem about walls: visible, invisible, real, imaginary or historic walls like the Great Wall of China or the Berlin Wall. It could even be about the garden fence. She has given us inspiration with quotations from Sir Isaac Newton and Cy Twombly, as well as poems by Robert Frost and Seamus Heaney.
writing in north norfolk 
Ah, the sweet familiarity of home, within safe walls.
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My safe haven 😉
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I like the comforting lines and the homely feeling within walls in the first stanza as well as the mystery of solid darkness in the final one. A lovely poem Kim.
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Thank you, Sumana.
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Knowing what’s within one’s own walls is a blessing!
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Safe at home. A wonderful feeling. Although my glasses are always on my bedside table. Blind as a mole without them. I like how you define the solid darkness from the shadows in this. So very true.
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😊👓
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Yes! The time i spend looking! I had to get a cell phone to find my home phone and vice versa! The second stanza reminds me that not only do I know my way/shadows within my home, but often I “see” more without the distracting surface details. Mighty fine, indeed.
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🙂
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Ah, the familiarity with these walls and all that is within is wonderful — we indeed build our lives in this comforting space we call home. The second stanza adds into the depth of this understanding — I loved how you use darkness as an element that you know: “which darkness/is solid and which is/shadow”.
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It’s amazing how I could find my way around our house blindfolded, which was emphasised by a couple of days in a hotel in Oxford and bumping into furniture in the middle of the night, completely disorientated!
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