“Anxiety is the handmaiden of creativity," wrote T.S. Eliot. To help make productive use of our self-isolation and social distancing, Lit Cleveland is offering free writing challenges each week via our newsletter. The following piece is a response to the "Nature in Words and Images" prompt.

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Wispy Visions

by Sarah Littlefield

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You can’t dip into the same sky twice. Figures move fast and westward, while background stands still. Close your eyes as you drift off, open them and the bear has elongated into a crocodile.

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Soon your thought narrative unravels and you are left feeling the grass under your body, smelling it fresh and wet, hearing birds in their a cappella song.

When did you stop staring at the dappled sky? What seductions replaced it’s slow swirls? How far afield the city lights, the blue screens?

So a minuscule invisible virus has called you back to wonder at the rounded cover hovering over our one true home. May your mouth form round kisses to drift up and join the shape shifters as they dance slowly by....