poetry – Raw Nature Spirit

Do not yearn for summer

Do not yearn for eternal summer

For it will burn your heart empty

When seeking to maintain its peak.

Much stronger is the fire internal

witnessed during the darker days.

As the Earth cycles

So are we.

Nothing stops and nothing stays the same

The rise and fall of life is necessary

For the variety is a tool of awareness.

Decay is transformation just as blooming is.

Without rest in death

There’s no seedling or reaching for the open.

There’s no lessons learnt in expectation of what might be.

There’s no mystery if dwelling in one place and same.

We must go places uncomfortable, dark, cold.

Do not yearn for eternal summer,

As winter is full of shine just as much.

A different kind, mute and murky

Dark but rich

Quiet yet wise.

Immerse in the darkness of each year with surrender

For the only way forward is through.

Breakdown

A wild something screams out of the flesh, released for all to see
The fear, horror, hopelessness
With only one desire – not to exist

The uncontrollable despair comparable only to deep dark sorrow
Once you experience sorrow, someone said, the depth is done, for it is sorrow that defines the darkest of darkness
How does one continue after such exposure, sorrow repeated over and over?

But it continues… how, I don’t know
What saves one?
Logic, sense, love, meaning of some sort; all the things that can not be grasped at in moments of being stripped of all flesh

But it subsides, comes back into itself beaten, broken and bare yet somewhat whole
Pierced with holes and stained with blood of a battle just passed
But living, catching breath, continuing

I heard a whisper between sobs and spiky mess of the ravaged mind
‘Keep looking out’
For I was surrounded by mountains on one side and by a forest of the other
Keep looking, seeing, let it be in elemental presence
Oh how I tried to see with no vision and feel through the cracks of broken flesh. I tried yet failed

Another day came and the whisper persisted
‘Keep trying,’ it said and like a mother the vast landscape filled with light opened its arms
To which it drew me in embrace
And I was home again
The fog lifted off my senses as mist released the water off its hold
Revealing space, an openness, hope, a chance to take flight again, to take another breath

My morning with flowers

Music In The Plants

As I kneel by a hedgerow wild, windswept and bountiful with buckthorn, nettles and hips

I hear a song rising from within me

Voice begins to fly out in tunes old and soulful that repeat in perfect harmony

What a trance this is, like nothing else It carries me deep into the land’s knowing

Long forgotten yet still living

I sing and sing collecting plants that with a ‘yes’ come into my surrender

Wanting to live and having their song carried into awareness of gatherers.

From Soul Land collection

Because she wants to

Like a bare tree she stands in her naked beauty

Mixed in with the elements raw

Slapped by the wind and washed by the rain

With sunshine warming her bones

She is rooted despite

She is rooted regardless

She lives, loves and breathes for as long as her roots hold her

For as long as nature calls her a daughter, a mother, a crone

Women regenerate often and hard because they have to

In order to sustain life and bare witness to their eternal belonging to

Land and life

Love and loss

Surrender and sorrow

She stands like a bare tree beaten, shaped and twisted by the natural flow of things

But she lives and will bloom over and over because she wants to

Because she is the keeper of it all…the world, nature, land forever and ever

more Soul Land reviews

Educator
Soul Land by Natalia Clarke engages the reader through lovely language and imagery. I’m looking forward to showing several of these lines to my students as mentor texts to inspire their own writing!

Claire M.
So beautiful. It really takes a special poetry book to maintain my interest and this one did. Gentle yet powerful. Highly recommended for poetry fans, and those who are open to new things.

Katie M.
This was such a lovely poetry collection. It was different from others I’ve read before. It showed a deep and personal connection to Scotland, the heritage, and the culture. I normally read poetry to relate to what is being said. This was rather hard for me to connect to since I have no connection at all to Scotland. Regardless, it was very beautiful. I loved what I read and wish it was longer.

Wulfie N.
This collection was incredibly unique. It painted a beautiful picture with its words, and I fell in love with every single one of them.

DeAnn H.
This poetry collection really was a love letter to Scotland and how the author feels about Scotland. There was some beautiful imagery and wonderful phrases that painted a picture of the wildness and beauty of Scotland. I did really enjoy the poems and language, but wished it was a little longer. I would have loved to read more since I did feel it was a bit short. Still, a lot of the images inspired by her words were wonderful and definitely make you feel like you can see the landscape she’s describing.

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