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Rowan Mangan

Author. Explorer. #Looking for America.

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The Turning, a poem

10 September 2018 29 Comments

THE TURNING

I.
My sweet darlings,
however did you stay afloat for so long
and never suspect you were
built to breathe underwater?

Why did you never toss thoughts
around in three dimensions,
never loose them like dragonflies
into the deep sky?

How could you fear falling?
Didn’t you see the spiders
stringing safety nets
across the earth every day, just in case?

II.
Instead, you tore at this world, and I watched.
I felt the air’s grim thickening, saw the waters rise.
You were huddled at the precipice—at the very brink,
my loves—and still bellowing for more.

What crucial inspiration turned you at the last?
I’ll never know what broke over you,
and with what calamity, clamor
or grace—

but when you knelt, as one, it was a mighty sight.
You placed your hunger on the ground
and left it to lie among the gadgetry of old logics,
beside the corpses of cruelty and greed.

You were exquisite to me then, long-legged and bright-eyed,
built of gravel and stardust; oh,
my sweet, funny loves. My unfurling galaxy, my
pebble-scatter of promises.

III.
And so we came to the age of the great unbuilding,
where everyone’s name is stillness.
Here, day gathers you into the deep magic of play.
Here, night powders you with the ancient magic of rest.

It’s a time of dragonflies.

So be soft in your hearts, dear hearts,
for we are all cast shining and short-lived into the sky—
And allow your face to take the shape of wonder
when your children ask again to hear the tale

of the time you almost broke the world.

Filed Under: Work inventures Tagged With: poetry

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Comments

  1. Tricia Elliott says

    10 September 2018 at 9:10 pm

    You found all the words, light writer Ro. This is MAGICAL. Thank you for the pebble scatter, the shape of wonder, the dragonflies. xo

    Reply
    • rowan says

      10 September 2018 at 11:28 pm

      Thank you, my inspiration! I aspire to your distillation.

      Reply
      • Lina says

        29 September 2020 at 6:28 pm

        I agree with your words Tricia.

        Reply
  2. Lara O’Connor says

    1 September 2019 at 12:05 pm

    I can taste the hope, as surely as if I were eating it. Thank you for this gift. Hope is often in short supply.

    Reply
  3. Donna Kiel says

    2 September 2019 at 3:05 am

    “Built of gravel and stardust” …..you, dearest Ro, capture the real and the dream, the hope and the hard, and with each word is love. So life changing. Thank you!!

    Reply
  4. Sandi B says

    2 September 2019 at 8:02 pm

    So beautiful. So magical. My heart grew fuller and my busy mind became peaceful.

    Thank you Ro.

    Reply
  5. Melanie Phoenix says

    2 September 2019 at 8:23 pm

    Oh my my my, Ro. This poem flows into me like water into a parched landscape. My ancient heart murmurs, “Oh… You know. You know. I know this too. So many have forgotten…” Thank you for finding words for this knowing. I needed to read this today.

    Reply
  6. Wendy Wyatt says

    3 September 2019 at 5:53 am

    Just holy wow! You created a cosmic collision of excruciating and exquisite… and it landed on me in a prefect time of need! Wonders of the universe ~ How grateful I am for your voice.

    Reply
  7. Nicole M says

    31 March 2020 at 7:10 pm

    Perfect for this challenging time.

    Reply
  8. Eileen Wells says

    6 April 2020 at 1:30 pm

    Lovely and much appreciated

    Reply
  9. June reese says

    6 April 2020 at 1:44 pm

    Absolutely beautiful. Exquisite

    Reply
  10. valerie troiano says

    6 April 2020 at 5:33 pm

    Love this!

    Reply
  11. Katja Wulfers says

    6 April 2020 at 6:26 pm

    My heart…I watched Elizabeth Gilbert read it today and your words took my breath away. Thank you for such beautiful, rich, hopeful words. I’ve already shared it with a friend.

    Reply
  12. Laura Pallas says

    6 April 2020 at 7:00 pm

    Such a beauty full and insightful poem.
    Thank you for sharing!
    Sending love,
    Laura

    Reply
    • Angela Lisec says

      7 April 2020 at 2:38 am

      I love this poem, it moved my heart.

      Reply
  13. B. Schucht says

    7 April 2020 at 11:59 am

    Hey there Rowan,
    I listened to Liz Gilbert reading your poem. It touched me deeply. So I had to go and search for it… to give it to a friend who lost her father recently to the modern plague.
    With love, I’m sure
    B.

    Reply
  14. Gina Lee says

    7 April 2020 at 2:35 pm

    This is chillingly brilliant and heartfelt. How apropos probably more now (April 2020) than when you wrote it. I am in awe of the words, so eloquent and soft, so bone-chillingly close to reality right now. May we all be blessed during these times and your poem will be heard round the world. Thank you from every cell in my body for your words, they are comforting.

    Reply
    • Patti Micklin says

      7 April 2020 at 8:33 pm

      This is stunning…absolutely prophetic!
      Elizabeth Gilbert read it so beautifully.
      I’m sharing this with my nonprofit employees who serve people with intellectual disabilities and friends and family far and wide. Just the salve we need. Thank you.

      Reply
  15. Heidi Paul says

    8 April 2020 at 1:46 am

    So grateful for this gift of yours. I heard Elizabeth Gilbert read this and was stunned by it’s aching beauty and painful relevance. I listened to it several more times and have since shared it with my son and a few friends. Thanks again for this beautiful gift of hope. xoxo

    Reply
  16. Zinzi says

    9 April 2020 at 6:17 am

    I was looking for a prayer for a loved one in mourning. This was it. Thank you!

    Reply
  17. Nancy says

    11 April 2020 at 9:26 am

    During this time of “social distancing” and upheaval due to Corona Virus, The Turning is Mother Nature’s voice speaking to us.

    Reply
  18. cici coffee says

    13 April 2020 at 3:34 pm

    Wow! Tugs at my heart string.
    Change will be good.

    Reply
  19. Susan Arnold-Aldea says

    14 April 2020 at 4:00 am

    Thank you for such a beautiful and poignant poem.
    I would like to know if it would be ok to added it to my website..( spiritual counseling for health care workers) that I am getting ready to launch now. Could you let me know please?
    Thank you
    Susan Arnold-Aldea MD

    Reply
    • Rowan Mangan says

      14 April 2020 at 6:54 pm

      Hi Susan, please feel free to share the poem! That’s what it’s for.

      All best,
      Rowan

      Reply
  20. Nicky Cassidy says

    15 April 2020 at 9:45 am

    Dear Rowan,

    This poem is beautiful. When I heard the wonderful Liz Gilbert read it out, I hope it is ok, but I copied it out 5 times and put it in bottles to be left on my neighbours’ doorsteps. They have all been blown away by it and picked their own favourite lines to ponder on in this weird time.

    Thank you for writing and sharing.

    Reply
    • Rowan Mangan says

      15 April 2020 at 2:28 pm

      Oh, Nicky. This is SO beautiful. Thank you so much for doing that, and for letting me know. This is a bright, glowing moment in my day. With huge love, Ro xo

      Reply
  21. Andrea Daerice says

    13 May 2020 at 4:41 pm

    Exquisite and full of tenderness… Your words slice through the dross to touch my deepest heart.
    Thank you for this.

    Reply
  22. Angelina Carpenter says

    29 September 2020 at 6:21 pm

    Thank you Rowan. This speaks it so well -the great turning that we are in!

    Thank you.

    Palms together bowing.

    Reply
  23. Soren Inanna Song says

    31 October 2021 at 6:21 am

    How did you know?

    Reply

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Words fail me. So I go back to the source. Words fail me. So I go back to the source.
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*This one applies more neatly to my professional life than you might imagine.
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Happy throwback Thursday! Take a ride to 2015 with me…⁠
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(By the way, Paula is also an acclaimed memoirist and takes on a few select clients for her Memoir Mentor services. DM me if you have a memoir in you and would like to get on Paula’s waiting list.)
Here’s our Fiction Friday GOAT QUOTE! This is fr Here’s our Fiction Friday GOAT QUOTE! This is from my yet-to-be-published novel, Goat Street. ✨📖✨
Let’s throw it back! This is my weekly revisitin Let’s throw it back! This is my weekly revisiting of the writing of my first draft of Goat Street seven years ago. I took myself (and my mum!) on an intensive writing retreat and finished the draft in 30 days. (The rewrites took *just* a little longer.)⁠
⁠
Every night after finishing writing, I published a short blog post about the day’s happenings. These ended up becoming a fun record of the process. ⁠
⁠
Happy throwback Thursday! Let’s take a ride to 2015 with me…⁠
⁠
*******************⁠
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For Throwback Thursday, I’m going to be posting these little blogs here over the next weeks. Let me know if you enjoy them! 

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A couple of days ago, I was reflecting on the need to build some more exercise into my week. Nothing extreme: just get this creaky old body moving around a bit.

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Who’s with me? Where in your life is this spacious inventure most needed?

** This is an excerpt of a longer essay that will be sent out to all my lovely Substack subscribers (along with lots of other goodies) next Tuesday. Subscribe via the link in my bio and join the wonderful Wild Inventures community. **

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