The order of Light
is to experience
common Truth itself.
Language is not a perfect game —
more than the sum of things,
like moon, sky, centre, body, bed —
all the singing masters know.
Picture two lovers — wake
to hold the real world —
by body,
word by word;
Wild halos — their thought.
Candide Diderot. ‘26
For Gwen Harwood (1920–1995)
Who taught us that thought is surrounded by Light, and that Love holds the real and imagined world.
Blackout poetry extraction from the original poem —
“Thought is Surrounded by a Halo” by Australian poet Gwen Harwood (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia).
¦¦¦ soul ¦¦¦ awakened, ¦¦¦ spirit ¦¦¦ soaring
¦¦¦ carried ¦¦¦¦¦ on ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ the breeze;
¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ the wild ¦¦¦¦ is roaring,
¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ the earth and the seas.
¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦ withered ¦¦¦¦¦ in the sunshine ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦
¦¦¦ bare trees are tossing ¦¦¦¦¦ branches ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦
The dead ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ beneath ¦¦¦¦¦ are ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ dancing,
¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦ clouds ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ across the ¦¦¦¦ sky.
¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦ see how the ocean is lashing
¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ billows ¦¦¦ whirlwinds ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦¦
¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦ see how ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦ waves are dashing,
¦¦¦ hear the wild roar ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦ thunder today!
(Blackout of Lines Composed in a Wood on a Windy Day by Anne Bronte)
moonlight falls
silent on snow
frozen towering wild turns its face to ancient sea
the ocean, brooding, darkly gazes back
waves crash on rock
ink upon the shore
beneath the endless starry surface
a world of light and wonder
fall and float among the luminescence
down
down
the kingdom of giants wide awake
among deep time and eons
majestic sirens of the fathoms
call to their kin across the stars
Titan, Ceres, Europa, Earth
sisters, cetaceans, sing
Antarctic abyss keeps its secrets
hidden since creation
epoch after epoch
as it was in the beginning
is now
and ever shall be... until
we meet amongst the midnight
in distant days ahead
with just one spark
nature is destroyed and will
never be the same
The great wild sea roars,
High waves crashing far away,
Stillness on the rocks.
Voices in the head, play dead.
River, rib, rill, red.
Thunderbolts within the tread.
Gold, be made to lead.
Tornado, blue widening gyre.
Belladonna, byre.
Lyrics of the liquid lyre.
Orange funeral pyre.
Mandrake, when you start to shriek.
Canine, thy bad bane.
Feline, tremulous top teak.
Wading through green rain.
Paranoid, schizophrenia.
Thought-spark, white shirt hurt?
Lachrymose the languor law.
Arrowed, O black quirt.
Severance? Gone, thine own way.
Hell and Heaven, hay.
Doubt, dread, doom, dung disarray.
Away from me stay.
Coral reef, the legal brief.
Cases, caught a cold?
Cannabis, thy pressured kif.
Brown the grizzly bold.
Nanotechnological?
That means very small.
Mother Entropy, your call.
Sword, halve. Vine, vinall.
Tyrannosaur, how you roar!
Kill floor crimson gore!
Lava volcanic null door!
Wind up war before!
breathless hush
Beyond dreams
with candlelight burns
Lives cross lives idling
Beyond souls emptiness'
piano speaks
'It's all in one mind'
the trees listening
for they are one
with the universe
Eyes smell flowers and become them
There's a deathless hush tonight
tidal wave sweeps in
breathes and sinks all lights lit
Mormon tabernacles washed away like barnacles
Coyotes are confounded & swim nowhere
An orchestra keeps on playing Handel's Water Music
Horns fill with water float away like lovers horizontal
Loop becomes a rollercoaster
like water glasses mixed with Buddhist brine
watered down beer topped with sea foam
Beau Fleuve suddenly become salt
buried masts of Amsterdam arise
the great wave sweeps
to wash away over-age Camembert
steaming in sea-vines
the washed land awakes again to wilderness
the only sound a vast thrumming of crickets
a cry of seabirds high over
and Indians reclaim their canoes
(Blackout of Wild Dreams Of A New Beginning
By Lawrence Ferlinghetti)
listen
and you will hear
the sound of nature's call
wild, free beautiful to the ears
I hear
My thoughts run wild in the dark.
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
nature
wild and carefree
here for thousands of years
created by God to enjoy
beauty
They tossed their manes as they made a stand
unencumbered by darkness or day
Years of their hooves etched into the land
worries left behind along their way
as Tribal Peoples honored their stay
Wilderness horses have always known
the freedom to run beneath the sun
feeding on wild grass Nature has sown
free to chase clouds or a wild dream spun
and spirit warriors witnessed each run
Then word came:“(so heavy on the brow)
let cattle graze, for dollars they bring
thus loaded on trucks, all are gone now
leaving echoes of freedom’s bold ring
now their song of the wild, wind will sing
I am a wild child,
feral, some might say.
Out the door
Before the sun can even rise,
Riding my bike
for miles upon miles,
without a care in the world.
Splashing in the creek,
catching minnows with my toes.
My days are full of adventure,
until Mama calls me home..
I saw a wild daisy, and it made me think of you.
Standing tall and strong, out of rocky soil it grew.
A sadness crept over me like none I ever knew.
I missed the nearness of you.
Your smile, our chats, holding your hand.
When I saw that flower defiantly stand,
sunny face upturned towards the sky
I am reminded that death is not goodbye;
perhaps this is you come to say hi.
With a stroke of your brush,
the magic begins,
The lion grows fur and a
proud, golden chin.
The elephant trumpets and
steps off the page,
While a colorful parrot flies
out of its cage.
A blue dolphin leaps from a
bright painted sea,
And a furry brown monkey
swings down from a tree.
A tall striped giraffe reaches
up to the skies,
While a soft bunny hops as
the purple ink dries.
Every animal wakes with a
splash and a gleam,
In the magical book where
the pages can dream.
I found a little picture once
On my way to work
It caught my eye and hooked my lip
and evoked a little smirk
This colourful little doodle
Struck me as profound
Amongst the hustle-bustle crowds,
Dreary sights and sounds
The entire world trudged along
With nothing new to say
But this little bit of colour
Stood out amongst the grey
There’s an artist that I came to know
Who is wonderfully inclined
To leave scraps of magic in the world
Just for us to find
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