Space Origami

earth is still distorted by pollution like a piece
of paper folded into an origami globe,
its faces and edges blurred with rubbing

here in an ever-shrinking space,
it’s hard to remember how primroses and daffodils
turn their faces to April sunshine

air and water are clearer now,
canals and rivers abound with fish and dolphins,
hopeful reminders orbiting earth

but we mustn’t forget the invisible enemy
invading our space, folding papery lungs
until there’s nothing left to breathe

Kim M. Russell, 5th April 2020

Origami Earth | Origami paper art, Origami, Paper globe
Image found on Pinterest

My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads NaPoWriMo Day 5 Play it Again in April 2020: Space Time

Today’s Play It Again takes us back to April 5, 2017 and ‘Physics with Björn’, who took us on an exploration of space time and the special theory of relativity. He challenged us to write about space time, exploring concurrent events or the problem of meeting in the fourth dimension of space-time.

I’m merging this prompt with Kerry’s Skylover Wordlist, sourced from Dylan Thomas’s poetry collection Deaths and Entrances, from which the fifth word is ‘paper’. I returned to the poem I wrote for the prompt the first time around and tried to re-write it from a different, contemporary space.

26 thoughts on “Space Origami”

  1. I love the title of this poem, Kim. Yes, we stand to lose much and gain something in this time of uncertainty. History will show the balance in centuries to come, but my thoughts on with those who are on the frontline of this battle, falling victim to the craven greed of the turn of these centuries.

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    1. Sometimes I think I can cope with this situation, and then I drop into a dip. They are talking about banning exercise if people don’t stop flouting the rules. Thankfully, I can walk around the garden.

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      1. Gosh!!!

        I live on a very quiet street, but when I was coming home from my short walk yesterday, a neighbour setting out on hers was obviously not going to go out of her way to avoid me. Luckily, with no fence I was able to duck up on to my lawn and put distance between us before she would have passed too close. I was amazed she was so unaware. I’ll be walking around my house and garden too, in future.

        I also saw (from my window) the two little kids from up the road going by in their billy cart unsupervised, one day. What were their parents thinking? No-one else was on the street, but there might have been.

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  5. I love this especially; “but we mustn’t forget the invisible enemy invading our space, folding papery lungs
    until there’s nothing left to breathe.” 💘

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  6. I love the idea of an origami globe and its faces and edges blurred with rubbing. And then whew! The reference to paper thin lungs. A timely piece, Kim. We are in such challenging and frightening times. Yesterday we wore homemade face masks out for the first time. Never did I think we would ever (isn’t that a game: never ever would I…..?) see everyone walking wearing masks or scarfs of some kind. What a horrible scourge. I try to avoid the news….and especially the numbers. It is too frightening and we can only do what we can do. Stay safe, my friend.

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  8. Yes, this is even more powerful with its vehicle of a gentle warning. I pray we can come out of this nightmare a much better world.

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  13. I always encourage people to investigate, read, research, and continue. They discover this planet is amazing, far more complex and adaptable than any of us could fully understand. To some degree, we can understand in microcosm, as that origami piece, but much is left uncharted. For myself, the more I learn, the more I’m in awe. Wow! Creation is amazing. And I suppose, the more I learn, the more wows there will be. Looking forward.

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  14. Pingback: Space Origami | RETRO FACTS

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