The summer solstice marks the turning point. The longest day. The brief, golden peak before the slow lean toward fall. In Kentucky, it arrives with a chorus of cicadas, the shimmer of creek water, and the hush that follows fireworks and fireflies.
At KSPS, we’re always looking for where poetry lives in the seasons—and the solstice is rich with metaphor. Light as clarity. Light as memory. Light as burden. Light as hope. What does the longest day of the year illuminate in you?
This week’s poetry prompt is simple:
Write a poem about light.
It might be sunlight on your grandmother’s porch steps, or the metaphorical light that comes after grief. Maybe it’s a harsh fluorescent bulb in a waiting room. Maybe it’s the absence of light, and what lives in the shadow.
Light can warm or expose, soothe or sear. As a poetic image, it’s as versatile as it is powerful.
Some questions to consider:
- What is the oldest light you remember?
- What parts of you come alive in summer?
- What truth has come to you slowly, like dawn?
A few favorite light-inspired lines from poets we love:
“There is a crack in everything / that’s how the light gets in.” — Leonard Cohen
“What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is your candle.” — Rumi
“You do not have to be good… / You only have to let the soft animal of your body / love what it loves.” — Mary Oliver (whose work is full of luminous moments)
We invite you to share your light-inspired poems with us on Instagram or by email for a chance to be featured. Whether you write in metaphor or memory, fragment or form, your words help us mark the season together.
The light may be peaking—but poetry endures.
Kentucky State Poetry Society 