A Paradoxical Universe Swirls Within Me

a poem

there’s lots of stuff living just below the surface | author’s photo

fresh and sour
whole and cracked
awed and discouraged

content and envious
happy and firey
courageous and weary

pure and naughty
extraordinary and ordinary
intelligent and foolish

so many opposing tensions
swirl inside me
mingling
mixing
arguing
squabbling

for within me exists a paradoxical universe
of delightfully sparkling stars
and densely heavy planets

of swiftly swimming salmon thoughts
and lumbering whale-sized emotions

of chartreuse green ideas springing to life
and decaying old notions of self
with brighter ones yet to form
under the depths of winter’s ice

a wavy inner world
filled with azure cloudless skies
and thundering powerful earth-quaking storms
a rich and loamy earth
packed with squirmy worms
persistent pests
and playful pansies