Tread Gently

Tread gently in this skyscape,
where a single cloud can weigh
heavy on the soul. Some escape;
cumulonimbi the shade of sludge
bluster grumpily across the sky
until the sun sets, and blackbirds
trill in hedges. An owl hoots a reply,
to a distant barking dog.
It is then that I see dead people,
looming like vaporous fog,
and left-over dust and gases
transform into stars and sepals.
A nebula of flower scent and birdsong
fills the dying light with a ghostly throng.

Kim M. Russell, 25th May 2021

clouds covering sunlight

Image by Slawek K on Unsplash

My response to dVerse Poets Poetics: Go Ahead, Make My Day

Mish is back with us for this Tuesday’s Poetics, thinking about how much she misses going to watch a movie at the cinema, which is why she has brought the big screen into today’s prompt.

She says that we all have favourite movies that have made an impact on us with powerful images and catchy lines, dialogue that transcends beyond the screen, with many movie quotes having made their way into our daily conversation, advertisements and memes.

Mish has provided a list of quotes to choose from. Our mission  is to select one of the movie quotes and incorporate it in a poem of any style, leaving the original theme of the movie behind and giving it a new place to land.

I chose “I see dead people” from ‘The Sixth Sense’, 1999.

60 thoughts on “Tread Gently”

  1. This is exquisitely drawn, Kim! I so the seamless way in which you have woven the line; “It is then that I see dead people, looming like vaporous fog,” I sometimes wonder what they feel when they view the world.. unable to do anything but rise and fall. 💝💝

    PS: I must watch the movie! 🙂

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  4. Ah Kim, your writing is truly special.
    “bluster grumpily across the sky” what a wondrous phrase that depicts the emotions of a day – or at least the emotions of the person looking up into the sky and describing the clouds in this way.
    And the mood that these words so aptly portray:
    “A nebula of flower scent and birdsong
    fills the dying light with a ghostly throng.”
    A beautiful write to the prompt!

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  7. Exquisite. I love how the scene mirrors the space between, unknown to us and how you transform something a bit eerie into beauty with these lines….
    “looming like vaporous fog,
    and left-over dust and gases
    transform into stars and sepals”

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  8. I like the threat of the dark clouds, leading to:
    “An owl hoots a reply,
    to a distant barking dog.
    It is then that I see dead people,
    looming like vaporous fog,”
    Yet you move past them, to:
    “A nebula of flower scent and birdsong”
    So lovely, every step of the way, Kim.

    Liked by 1 person

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  12. Lovely, haunting and timely, you encapsulate the timbre of the plague year, and the solution for the blues. Good work, a lively read and ride.

    Liked by 1 person

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  14. The ending lines made it a bit eerie for me though it can be beautifully mysterious. You painted the scene of the dying light with melancholy and lots of reflection.

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  19. “Tread gently in this skyscape” this one line captured my attention from the very beginning. It is very spiritual and dreading writing at the same time. You described it so perfectly and then give us a sheer vision to think and ponder without concluding. It is like hanging on there till waiting for eternity to come.

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  28. I’ve been working on something about how unsettling the mundane, the things you always see, can be; this captures that feeling so perfectly.

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