Edge of the Echo
Out of the depths of the sea, a breath of wind. From the roots of the earth, the shifting fire. Warm and cool. Firm and flowing. The early Celts recognized the relationship of invisible geography where blood whispers and memory clings to these ancient rhythms of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire.
Though encompassed by these elements every day, we still don’t fully understand them. Hegel said, “The familiar, precisely because it is familiar, remains unknown.” Earth, air, water, fire: their energy destroys, nourishes, purifies, and we are captivated by this age-old tapestry of mystic balance between stone and stars. In this world full of upheaval and clatter, we need more than ever the tenacity of nature – its magic and variety that mend our weary souls.
Within each season of the year a threshold emerges where these elements intersect, allowing the possibility to cross the thin spaces into the “Other” that perforates the darkness around us. Spend time with the earth: revel in its strength. Drink deeply of the air and let it satisfy you. Taste the water, whether clear or salty, for its cleansing power. Dance with the flames of passion. Let the elements speak to you, speak through you. It’s time to live again.
About KB Ballentine (Chattanooga, Tennessee Author)
Ballentine’s fifth collection, Almost Everything, Almost Nothing, was published in 2017 by Middle Creek Publishing. Two collections, The Perfume of Leaving and What Comes of Waiting, won the 2016 and 2013 Blue Light Press Book Awards. Published in many print and online journals, her work also appears in In Plein Air (2017), Carrying the Branch: Poets in Search of Peace (2017), River of Earth and Sky: Poems for the Twenty-first Century (2015), Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume VI: Tennessee(2013) and Southern Light: Twelve Contemporary Southern Poets (2011).
Ballentine received her MFA in Poetry from Lesley University, Cambridge, MA. She currently teaches high school English, theatre, and creative writing and adjuncts for a local college.
Learn more about KB Ballentine at www.kbballentine.com.
