It’s Tuesday, and the dVerse Poets Pub is open with leftover Valentine’s treats and beverages from our well-stocked bar, as well as a selection of delicious poetry.  I’m Kim from writinginnorthnorfolk.com, your host for this week’s Poetics.

We’ve written and read quite a lot of poetry based on ancient Greek mythology, and I for one love the updated versions. But that’s not all they had to offer.

The ancient Greeks believed that the Universe is made up of four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. This concept dates from pre-Socratic times and persisted throughout the Middle Ages and into the early modern period, deeply influencing European thought and culture.

In his On Generation and Corruption, Aristotle related each of the four elements to two of the four sensible qualities, whereby fire is both hot and dry, air is hot and wet, water is cold and wet, and earth is cold and dry.

Aristotle added a fifth element, aether: while fire, earth, air, and water were earthly and corruptible the stars could not be made out of any of the four elements, and had to be made of a different, unchangeable, heavenly substance.

The elements can also be found in other cultures, religions and philosophies, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, Japanese traditions and ancient African religions.

Even Western astrology uses the four classical elements in connection with astrological charts and horoscopes. The twelve signs of the zodiac are divided into the four elements: Fire signs are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius, Earth signs are Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn, Air signs are Gemini, Libra and Aquarius, and Water signs are Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces.

Your challenge is to choose one of the basic four elements and explore it. How does it manifest itself in your life? What is your relationship with it? For example, are you a pyromaniac? Are you scared of water? Avoiding cliché, think abstractly about how the element looks, feels, smells, tastes, and sounds to you, and write a poem about your element.

For earth, I found a lovely prose poem by Muzahidul Reza on Poem Hunter, entitled ‘Man Of Earth In Color And Art (Prose Poem)’, and a poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, ‘The Plough Of Time’.

One poem about air, which really stood out for me, was The Guardian’s poem of the week in June 2022. It’s ‘Air’ by Victoria Adukwei Bulley, and I love the use of spacing in this poem, ’For Air’ by Ed Roberson.

For fire, I have chosen a well-known poem by Robert Frost ‘Fire and Ice’ and ‘A City’s Death By Fire’ a poem by Derek Walcott.

Here’s an interesting little poem about ‘Water’ by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and I couldn’t ignore this gorgeous poem by Pablo Neruda, ‘In The Wave-Strike Over Unquiet Stones’.

The style and form of your poem are up to you. I would just like you to be in your chosen element: run barefoot on the earth; fly through air; burn with fire; or swim in water.

If you are new to dVerse and/or Poetics, here’s how to join in:

• Write a poem in response to the challenge;
• Enter a link directly to your poem and your name by clicking Mr Linky below;
• There you will find links to other poets, and more will join, so check back for their poems;
• Read and comment on other poets’ work – we all come here to have our poems appreciated;
• Please link back to dVerse from your site/blog;
• Comment and participate in our discussion below, if you like. We are a friendly bunch of poets.
• Have fun.
• Mister Linky closes on Thursday 3 pm EST.