Over the weekend, I went on a four-hour caving expedition with a group of students from my college. We first climbed to the top of a waterfall, where we could look into the vast gorge and drink fresh water straight from a spring. Then we descended to the bottom of the gorge, where the entrance to the cave lay behind the waterfall.
And we plunged into darkness. After squirming through crevasses, scaling cliffs, and turning off our flashlights to sing the Doxology in utter darkness, we emerged into sunlight. We emerged dirty and exhausted— but victorious. We emerged with a greater bond with each other and memories to share for years to come. And I emerged with inspiration for poetry. It started as one haiku. And then it became a cycle of five linked haikus describing my adventure in the cave. Thus, I present you: The Cave Cycle I. Waterfall’s summit Six-foot log tumbles off cliff Four seconds till crash II. Down the slick wet rocks Do not think you’ve reached the end No! You must go up. III. Beneath the mountain Light we cannot see; ten voices Join to sing Tallis IV. Sharp crags, black fissures Acorns at cave’s end. We won! Wait— we must go back. V. Ten cave-conquerors, Cold and muddy, embrace light. We taste summit’s spring. *** Fun fact: In elementary school, I learned that a haiku is a form of poetry with three lines following a five-seven-five pattern of syllables. That may be true for English haikus, but the original Japanese form is different. A haiku isn’t defined by the number of syllables but by the number of on— that is, characters in the Japanese hiragana alphabet. Since English uses a different alphabet, counting syllables is the closest we can get.
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Progress on Doombear, Rough draft:10%
Progress on The Lore of Yore, third draft:
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"In truth, by leaving, I was seeking only one thing. A journey."
-Oathbringer, pg 981 Types of blog posts:
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