After four shares on my comment, it seems I should do this. Here goes:
Sometimes we want to speak up, but a glance hushes us. We have something to say, but shyness hushes us. Maybe we want to tell someone that we like them (eightbitsamurai's sister, for example) but fear hushes us. Maybe we live in a repressive regime and oppression hushes us. These are some of the things that -- on the run -- I thought of when I read mk's little poem this morning:
I changed
filter
mute
hush
to:
hush
filter
muteI'll let this roll around in my mind for a while.
rezzeJ Complexity _refugee_ humanodon and the, ever sardonic, flagamuffin --- and everyone else who has a heart of poetry...
Few things are better, if not harder than, throwing in a few solid hours of writing and poetry work during the wee or very early hours of the morning when everyone and thing else is asleep - when not even the birds will dare to disturb you with chirping. I can get into a super zone during those times. Unfortunately however I love sleep and am a morning person so the times I am awake after 1 AM and before 5:30 AM are few and far between and getting more so the older I get and etc.
A white water wash of unwanted, stuck-together thoughts crash into each other constantly crash into me certainly
and it feels all day (better stop by the store later for toilet paper oh and ) as though there really is no safe way (I hope
I didn't embarrass myself earlier with-) to put a stop to the cacophonous, (John, Christ what was I thinking?) discordant
chorus of one thousand (I've got to make sure I get my notes together before-) different voices all too preoccupied with
(that midterm, and I-) what is gone and what is coming to (wonder if Emily would be willing to-) take a moment and Hush.
Breathe through
Your nose and feel
Your breath move past the
Sensitive tips of your
Nostrils and over
The fine hairs
Of your
Lip. Feel
Each thought
As it bursts into
Your brain, but step
Back, observe it, dry,
And then just let
The thought
Go. Enjoy for one brief moment,
Or maybe two,
The power of hush.
That wouldn't surprise me. It's been on my mind a lot lately as I've been working on mindfulness and a meditation practice, so the first thing that occurred to me about "hush," was hushing my own mind.Isn't the ability to be 'self-soothing' considered to be a sign of growth in infants/young children? (Or people in general?)
No better muse than obligations outside of poetry, but I'll take a crack at this one.
Hush. When enveloped by fear and comforting arms, Hush. When a raw throat at last gives out, Hush. When peak of sorrows is past, Hush. When grief has gone, Hush. Hush now, I'm here.When body tremors with tearful gasping wordless wailing,
This feels like walking through a desert, to finally end with a glass of water.
"Hush!" A scolding mother, or an insistent, apprehensive lover. Or both at once. Attempting to steal a tapioca paper moment behind rice paper walls.
Thanks lil. Sometimes I think I do better the less I write.
For some reason, your piece made me think of Ann Frank hiding in the attic and slaves on the underground railway hiding from captors and those situations where a crying baby or a sneeze would lead to capture and murder.... that's the poem I would write for the Hush prompt... if I didn't avert my eyes. Akira Kurosawa "To be an artist, one must not avert one's eyes."
It definitely has some connections to this song to me as well: In addition to what you mention. A point where things are desperate, and you can't imagine them getting much worse, but there's also that faint glimmer of hope that keeps you going, keeps you holding your breath that extra second.
The internal hush. Why is this something I want to say or write? What is the purpose of following through in saying or writing it down? How will this affect future relationships and decision? Who is the right audience for what I want to say? Where is the best environment to convey my message? Cue breakdown and not saying anything at all.
Your definition of the internal hush seems to involve choosing when and where and how to say something. I'd simply call that wisdom and discretion. What do you have to say about self-censorship? How is that different from shyness? All these ideas are building towards something poetic.
Yes, but for me that often ends up in a hush and self-censorship. There are many thoughts and feelings I have that are not shared because I censor myself a lot. What I say, and what I don't say usually have a rational behind it and I'm not exactly known to be a very open person. It's a difference from shyness, which I think can stem from anxiety or worrying about peoples reaction to what you are saying. For me, it's more calculated, more planned out, and a function of at times obscuring what I feel and what I want people to think.
It would be irresponsible, and uncharacteristic of me not to usurp your beautiful and amazing writing prompt and include a plug for a previous #tngpodcast
He liked to think he knew,
that what he could construe
mattered to someone. But as his gaze gathered the cascade
of commentary, insight and knowledge
beyond his baggage, he lay subdued. Envy and self-contempt stewed gently.
Discontent he attempted intently
to improve... To push back the darkness. And, for a while at least, he seemed at peace.
Precious pieces of personal growth propped
up his ego. The negativity ceased. Though on return he found the fight was not won.
So he had grown but so too had others.
He constantly compared his worth to that of another’s So he hushed himself, hid himself.
His thoughts, torn hues from the silent shelf,
left to idle beside the light.
Hush is a reminder from other people that we need to be quiet and listen. If you are getting hushed you pressed against a social boundary, either in what or how you were speaking. Some people take it as an insult. But I have learned that I do sometimes talk too loud/too much/too in detail. People hushing me reminds me that they care about me enough to remind me and not just walk away.