untamed

when a single word turns into a psalm

The following poem mostly wrote itself at around 2 a.m. this morning. I woke up with a single word stuck in my head:

“Untamed.”

The word upended me. It felt like it was planted in the soil of my soul like a magic bean. I could feel the word growing inside of me.

untamed - untamed - untamed

My heart was stirring and my mind was now racing - there would be no sleep until I figured out what was going on.

It’s not uncommon for a single word to haunt me like a ghost during the night. I knew that the only way back to slumbertown would be to give “untamed” a chance to tell me what it needed to so it could go back to the light.

I stepped out into my backyard and sat down on the cheap plastic lime green chair that I bought a couple of years ago.

untamed - untamed - untamed

My cellphone was in my hands. I opened up a blank page on my writing app.

untamed-untamed-untamed-untamed-untamed

I knew the word would start speaking to me sooner or later. I just needed to be patient.

“Untamed…” I whispered under my breath every few minutes.

The word flirted with me by sending a dozen images into my brain every minute or so.

I saw horses. I saw two comets twisting together like birthday ribbons a couple of solar systems away. “Untamed.” I saw two lovers kissing under a downpour. I saw my children laughing. “Untamed.” I saw a bear standing on a giant rock in the middle of a wide-moving river. I saw a picture that doesn’t yet exist of me smiling on a sailboat in the middle of the sea. “Untamed.” I saw a bonfire. I saw a kitchen covered in flour. I saw the Big Bang. I saw a son holding his father who was fading away on a hospice bed. “Untamed.” I saw the raging ocean meeting a cliffside in Ireland. I saw a field of singing sunflowers.