Friday Flash Fiction
  • Home
    • About Friday Flash Fiction
    • Writing Good Flash Fiction >
      • Competition Tips
    • Terms & Conditions
    • GDPR Compliance
  • 100-Word Stories
  • Other Archived Material
    • Longer Stories
    • Poetry
  • Authors
    • A
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E-F
    • G-I
    • J-L
    • M-O
    • P-R
    • S-V
    • W-Z

Space Within, by Kate MacDonald-Dunbar

22/10/2021

 
The quiet air around us should define the space
that enables those who write for pleasure or for gain,
to reconcile each action outwith this simple ethos,
permitting a breath, caught in wonder, to remain.

​
Our fingers, tapping, can bring to life fragile thoughts,
pause again while they rise as soft grey smoke, then fade.
We feel frustration when we cannot keep these forms,
captured inside the many, varied worlds we've made.


Though by the act of grasping tightly, holding on,
we nullify the contemplative space we need.
The smoke descends, not light but thick and smothering
thereby allowing negativity to breed.


That space within is ours to gently mold and meld.
In turn we shape and solidify the space without.
Our thoughts can eddy, lap the shore then dissipate
allowing positivity to flow throughout.
Cathy Cade link
22/10/2021 03:51:30 pm

What a peaceful poem...

Kate MacDonald-Dunbar
23/10/2021 04:06:09 am

Thank you Cathy, you're very kind. When I wrote it the words did calm me down. Due to insomnia (two and a bit hours sleep a night) I have a "rat in a trap" kind of brain so anything that slows it down is good.

Jim B. link
22/10/2021 05:06:00 pm

Our fragile thoughts too often rise as grey smoke, don't they?
Really enjoyed this, and it wanders deep in the writer's head.
Nicely done
Jim

Kate MacDonald-Dunbar
23/10/2021 04:09:20 am

Thank you Jim, for your lovely comment, and for taking the time to leave it. So very encouraging for a relative newbie.

Dee Lorraine
23/10/2021 01:53:42 am

I love this: "Though by the act of grasping tightly, holding on,
we nullify the contemplative space we need." You capture the writer's quandary so well, Kate. Thank you.

Kate MacDonald-Dunbar
23/10/2021 04:17:47 am

I am so glad you enjoyed it Dee, thank you. Another one that almost wrote itself. It can be hard sometimes to explain where these words come from, for example, the fact that I saw our thoughts as grey smoke, which will rise and float away.

Sue Clayton
23/10/2021 04:25:35 am

You are a poet laureate in the making. This was wonderful.

Kate MacDonald-Dunbar
23/10/2021 04:44:37 am

Sue, thank you so much. I will now have to hope you don't read another of my poems which is being published in a couple of days. It's called "Low Flying Fairy" and is far different from this one :)

Marjan Sierhuis
23/10/2021 06:57:47 pm

I thoroughly enjoyed your poem, Kate.

Katie MacDonald-Dunbar
23/10/2021 09:05:31 pm

Thank you Marjan, it was a little wordy perhaps, but those words seemed to fit quite well together, so I went with it :)


Comments are closed.

    Poetry

    For the foreseeable future, the Poetry section is closed to submissions.


    Archives

    July 2025
    June 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014

Picture
Website by Platform 36