Mastodawn

Origin, or: Beyond blue

where, ultimately, are we from?
simple enough to mouth: beyond
for wise men, for fools, for the
dreamers, eyes trained towards the blue
all of us standing together, here
within our brief finity, within
known existence—my attempts, your
impressions—our shared universe
made of stars, of atoms, the
dust of Mars, ice of Ganymede, gas of our sun
ionized plasma—which shines
sparkling across the waters on
Terra’s surface—then it's me and you

‘Beyond Blue’, a haiku by Ivor Steven

My poem above is a golden shovel based on Ivor’s haiku:

from beyond the blue
here, within your universe
the sun shines on you

Golden shovel?

A golden shovel is a kind of poem where each line ends with a word taken from another poem. The words come in the same order as they appear in the original poem. The new poem can be about something completely different, even though it uses those words.

d’Verse

Poets are encouraged to compose ‘golden shovel’ poems at d’Verse.

Let’s write poetry together!

When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

–Ben Harper (b. 1969)

Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!