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CLOSING IN by Pranada Comtois


On my fiftieth birthday I was walking on the shore of the Atlantic ocean and spotted a diver in the water...

 I immediately remembered my days of scuba diving off the coast of Santo Domingo when I was sixteen. The gulf of years between sixteen and fifty became pronounced, but even more poignantly, I realized that it was time for me to accept that I had passed through youth. 

It was a stark, sinking sensation of moving from denial into an uncomfortable truth.

 This is the first poem I ever wrote. I had never thought of myself as a poet, and the thought of writing a poem never occurred to me. These lines came out spontaneously. I felt quite awkward when my esteemed writing friend, a poet herself, declared me "Poet Pranada," but her confidence in me gave me permission to write other poems. 

My relationship with my writing mentor has convinced me that each of us women should go out of our way to help each other find our voice and release it into the world.

Closing In

Diver bobbing
In grey-brown-green water
red & white flag moving
almost imperceptibly
like years wearing out a body.

Waves rush into yellow-brown crests
that peak and crash
into tan caps
that struggle against
a south-easterly wind
whipping
the flap-edge of the silver umbrella
into a wrestle sound,
softer than
branches & twigs
against a window pane
more soothing than
the physic jolt
this instant
grown into a moment,
several strung together into minutes
stopped sudden
facing stark

youth is gone forever.

(May 3, 2008)



Pranada Comtois spent two decades immersed as a contemplative-ascetic in an ashram, and the next twenty years raising a family and running two multi-million dollar businesses with the intention of embodying practical spirituality in the world. She brings the wisdom of multiple traditions and lessons from her own practice into her writing and speaking. Pranada is a spiritual activist who advocates for the Way of the Feminine Divine and the practice of unconditional love in daily life for personal and community transformation (Bhakti). She blogs at Little Ways of Being and is passionate about empowering women to find their unique gifts, voices, and strengths and to usher them into the world. Connect with her on facebook here. 


~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~ 

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