If you wish to attend the read around (t’s free, fun, a great way to share, and reading a poem is optional). Note: If you registered already, you do not need to register again, simply use the link sent to you in your confirmation email. Register Here:

Note: There will be no Read-Arounds for the next two weeks. The next read-around is Thursday, May 18, 2023.

My Thoughts

Keyholes have become a thing of the past in the digital era, but have been an integral part in human life for centuries. Metal keys cut with ridges that turn tumblers, which required keyholes, are being replaced by cards with electronic synapses that do not need a hole. Card Keys, of course, are still keys and are infused with the same symbolic meaning as their skeletal ancestors serving as a means of locking in and locking out, of granting permission to enter, of keeping secrets and of opening portals to possibilities. In the old world, keyholes had a special place in the lexicon of symbolism, because they were once large enough to offer a peek into what was hidden, private, kept in the dark. They represent the allure of being an unattended viewer, a spy, a voyeur, with all the risks and rewards. In other words, keyholes can be dangerous. Chiyo Kitihara’s poem, the keyhole, gives us a peek into the interior: From the eroticized insertion, to the crumbling and tumbling down, to the spent discard, to the falling into bloom, something in us is unlocked, freed to face up, to open up, to feel, despite the possibility of destruction, the fullness of blossom.

  1. Read the poem 

  2. Do your own reflection on it, noting what it inspires in you

  3. Feel free to use your own reflection as your prompt or…

  4. Use the selection of prompts in the column on the right

  5. Pick one that inspires you and write (feel free to use only one or write several poems using different prompts) or…

  6. Don’t use any of the provided prompts and follow your inspiration from wherever it comes

The Keyhole

Destruction may be the result  – A silver key
Put to a dark place

On insertion – Deep inside – Softly
Something crumbled

Enter
Said a voice

Tumbling down
A staircase of atonal music

The discarded key – Or perhaps
Me falling asleep

Round the nape of a peacock’s neck – Arms entwine
Longingly – Scenting a fragrance for the first time
Face up – I think I may well bloom

(Translation by Michael Huissen)
https://regency-explorer.net/museum-of-creativity/modern-japanese-poetry-poems-by-chiyo-kitahara/

Prompt Ideas

  1. Journal or write a poem using the stem sentence, Destruction may be the result… and fill in from your own imagination.

  2. Chiyo breaks the conventional use of dashes with spaced dashes followed by capitalization as the only form of punctuation. Journal or write a poem using only dashes ( Or parentheses ) for punctuation.

  3. Journal or write a poem titled, The Keyhole or A Key. Or write about keys in general.

  4. Chiyo’s poem remains artfully vague throughout — destruction of what? What dark place? What crumbles? — by deleting the subject — who put the key to a dark place, who inserted it, who discarded it, etc. — and uses incomplete sentences, which creates a kind of breathlessness. Journal or write a poem using mainly passive sentences and incomplete thoughts.

  5. Journal or write a poem about the act of discarding something, or of being discarded, perhaps even casually.

  6. Journal or write a poem about the impact of a fragrance .

  7. What do you think may well inspire you to bloom?

  8. As usual, write about anything else in the poem or in life that inspires you.