The Unfathomable Inside
This piece is a riff on the phrase “The Unfathomable Inside”, which came from the writing prompts Padlet of Chris Cluff. What follows are two interpretations of this phrase.
For yourself, or for your students, if you are a writing teacher, writing from prompts is a powerful tool you can use to start a writing habit, or to get some “sparks” where none exist.
Constraints inspire creativity. Think “inside the box”, and then bust it open. Punch through that cardboard!
Matt
Unfathomable is “unknowable”, or in the case of ocean fathoms, never explored to greatest depths. The depths of minds- minds have no depths.
Like the deepest ocean trenches, human minds are unknowable, and, in their deepest mysteries, unfathomable. There is no deep sea explorer who can go, all the way to the bottom.
Indeed there is no bottom- only sideways, up, down, and diagonally, and neurons part of networks, little clumps of electricity that somehow generate “mind”. Which somehow generate “soul”.
You in your bone-cage, draped in skin, me in mine. Outsides are knowable. Outside we see the cage of skin, holding blood and bone within. Outside is shape and contour. There is hair that can be touched, the swell of hips, and the curves of noses and feet.
If insides were as fathomable as outsides, then I would have no mystery, to you, and you to me.
Opinions are known, and your opinions are knowable, because they are shouted from digital rooftops. Self-appointed yellers yell. I am supposed to be in the little box that YOU put me in. You can keep me in a jar like a specimen, and attempt to know me. Now who YOU are, when you are not yelling, when you drop the person, the act, the routine, the rituals, the habits, the snark, the sarcasm- that would be interesting. You are not your TwitterGramBook.
Just don’t be surprised when shards of glass shower you. I will break that jar-cage. If words could shatter glass, it would already be a shattered pile, and I would step through, crunching underfoot-
Chris
okayest okayist [the unfathomable inside]
thanks for the share,
but only one word’s
what ya got there!
and it ain’t so easy for me.
[quite candidly]
it’s far more steps,
to focus my lens
to rep,
all the peeps I know
or the places I’ll go;
the books to be read
and marathon threads;
the laughs and tears,
the groans and cheers -
how can I light this all up
in one word?
the days and nights, still to go.
the after-school shows.
the courses not run.
the in-class fun.
the pd, the dpa, and curriculum.
the talking, the listening, and pushing the system.
blending They into We,
oh and equity
seems to stall my New Year’s commitment.
So,
in choosing my word
I’ll take two, not one.
And I hope that you’ll
see where I’m going.
unexpected expectations are expected
everyday,
so choosing
without ever really knowing
between left and right,
up and down
kept up with a smile,
sometimes a frown,
not lowest or highest
leftest or rightest
bestest or worstest
lastest or firstest.
trouble is
that I have two-one words
that fit
and
no extremes will explain
my mindset best
other than I’m happy
being an okayist,
who’s also okayest.
not the greatest or leastest
not famined or feastest
not flying or falling
not running or stalling
the between
the middle
fits me like a fiddle
So
I choose the hub, the core.
Cause I grow best.
I crave the balance.
Where we connect
even more.
now
when we all
run the middle no farther
[did I mention fiddle?]
and stand at center,
as one.
if we all see each other
on the line of best fit
since outlying is
really no fun.
and if you
are wondering
how I came to this
consider the challenge
of finding the balance
of
an okayest okayist.
seriously?!
it ain’t easy.
one way or other
below or above ya
with or without
sure or in doubt
[sorry if I shout],
rain or clear weather
we are best
when we
stand here
together.
with many words,
not just one.
