She rummaged in the children's toy box, with a grin,
Found a little tube where sunshine tumbled in.
She spun the colored glass through to amber, gold and bright,
To let every broken feeling borrow some light.
As she turned the tube, dark blue was the hue.
Then yellow skipped and giggled by, changing the view.
Red sulked a while, then orange set it aflame,
And green forgot the reason it felt the same.
She shook the stars; they tumbled into the light.
A little mess of confetti became a small delight.
The gloomy shapes still waited in their place.
But sunshine found a laughing crease across their face.
Some hurts were sharp, as worries rolled around.
Yet every twist showed a different pattern to astound.
With golden surprises dancing through the blue-grays,
As the glass taught her new ways to brighten her days.
So suffering stayed—no trick could make it cease.
But the playful whirl of colors brought some peace.
As she watched, the whole room seemed to brightly glow,
With a child-like spectrum only the children know.
(“Outside Looking In Merit Badge”, 2011, original oil)
The truth is
We aren’t our body, nor our mind
Life is bigger than both, bigger too
Than the Universe itself,
The same way, and to the same degree
That this world is bigger than my little room in it.
In this larger than life scale of Life
Dimensions beyond comprehension
Exist in ever expanding layers
Layers without connection yet interpenetration,
Layers easily felt and seen
If not understood
With the eyes of a child
A child without words to describe
What is so big
It has no true name.
(9/22/25)
Last night I drifted between dreams.
The dawn was too weak to keep me awake.
I closed my eyes with intention—
to step back through the curtain.
The dream re-opened lucid,
not as I had left it then,
but as I wanted it to be.
I warped the path of the flowing stream.
Its waters following my lead.
I called to the spirits,
the half-seen and half-forgotten,
and they came in up close.
They hummed their mantras,
their eyes enlivened with flame.
Their fire did not burn.
It melted old dregs away;
things I had clung to.
Renewal rose through my chest,
bright and oddly burden free
I pressed through the ashes.
Sought not to awaken but to reshape—
To change what was fixed.
The dream became pliable.
A soft-clay under my breath.
I felt doubt and concern as,
I opened the door, entered the space,
feet bare on the floor.
Each corridor was pliant for me—
the walls redrew with each sleepy sigh.
When morning awoke and returned,
the dream’s pulse still beat in me.
As my eyes opened, I knew,
that we can rearrange whorls,
when sleep and waking coalesce.
Land
Phosphorus packed
Cascade slithers down
Myriad of green
Space
Lunar Light
Luminous Nebula
Serpentine Discover
Body rejects itself,
Bone-dry and like a furnace,
It burns alive, kill
It is sand, dead
Dig two graves,
Refuse to rot,
This isn’t revenge.
Hate the body,
It’s nothing but problematic.
One ear open,
Stay somewhat conscious.
Maggots crawl in the body, tearing under the skin,
Refuse to rot, feel it inside-out.
Fling a rope,
It will not reach,
YOUR BODY isn’t strong enough.
The black hole at the center of the galaxy
Is only dark from the outside
Inside is the light of a thousand suns
Clinging tightly to itself in a private moment
("Citadel of Light Merit Badge" - #67, 2016, original oil)
Inside Out Outside In
The world is nothing
If not a continuum of beliefs and practices
Along a spectrum of consciousness
Within an infinite sphere of awareness;
It’s all light
And it’s everywhere
But not in equal measure.
In other words, that light shines differently
In each of us,
And so each of the cultures we create exist
On a continuum
From high to low.
We don’t see what we don’t want
But we see what we compulsively project
Not like it’s a choice
Just a given for the filters we bring
The ones we inherit
The ones we learn.
What differentiates the individual path
And progress of individuals along it?
Refinement, subtlety and internalization.
What starts big, grandiose, overwhelming
Eventually becomes commonplace and manageable
Until it too passes in its own small way.
It’s called growing up and growing old.
The Universe will have us all
Swallowing us whole
Kicking and screaming
Or smiling and laughing
It matters not to that final hole.
(6/21/24)
Last night
I was able
to outgrow myself …
again
for the very
first time
Life was unspun
in the moment
relayed
where tomorrow
and yesterday
rhyme
Competing with
the future
the sky
and the moon
my wandering
complete
Turning my
destiny
inside out
my nature
expanding
—replete
(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)
Learned me from the inside out.
Can you write my soul
like I can?
Urchin larvae, space capsules
Float to landing spot
Then tube feet emerge
Everting inside-out, sock like!
SPREAD IT AROUND
Without Jesus in my life
I have nothing left at all
My Creator and Redeemer
Upon Him I will call
He knows my every moment
He knows me inside out
He understands and cares
He knows what I'm about
No secrets can I hide
From my Lord and King
And so in joy or sorrow
I must tell Him everything
At times I have shamed Him
I've grieved His loving heart
Yet, He won't give up on me
Gives me brand new start
How can I thus deny
Such a love as His
So I'll repent in ashes
And share the love He gives
For I know His love
Is for those who've found
Their life will be too empty
Unless it's spread around
Copyright, Kathryn Search
windy day
autumn leaves turn
inside out
Hummingbird hardly heard,
airily, merrily
extraordinarily
effortless floating, near
weightless transparency,
seemingly without the
slightest of care.
Urgent persistency,
terribly panicky,
frenzied and frantic, she's
burning through energy
rapidly, hungrily;
precise machinery
executes there.
Mallard so lazily,
buoyantly floating on
glassy flat waters, he
glides on the surface, and
wanders unhurriedly,
conveying contentment,
trivial feat.
Feet like a bicycle
furious pedaling,
splendidly, swimmingly,
chasing and fishing, he's
hungrily hunting and
ready to eat.
Night flyte ride
sensual overlord
to joy and pain
please mind the gap
second thoughts sunrise
lust in Angels
lost and found finale
UPSIDE DOWN
inverted, topsy-turvy
unhinging, disorienting, confusing
puzzle, somersault; details, viscera
twisting, wearing, turning
front to back, socks
INSIDE OUT
written October 10, 2021
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.