Backward Thomas and Once I Had a Container – New Poetry
Published on HivePostify by @cliffagreen · Wed Aug 05 2026
The patter of rain on broad leaves punctuates the aura of fire heat – a miracle of remaining housed too large for gratitude
And I am thankful Still my brain tilt-a-whirls
to conceive I have home in a rain forest
From the flat cornfields of Indiana I squiggled into our country's distant foothill corner No plan – just a backpack of worry and fear
The fear pushed me zigging Worry weighed my zagging My inner beacon of peace sliced through all darkness
But now my brain is scrambling seeking something – a box perhaps a fiction maybe something that contains so I can sort new this as that and that new as this
Once I Had a Container
Twelve years in a prison of four walls Katherine told me to escape but prison felt safe until it became too small
Rising to stand tall I burst those walls
Now the world feels open Love abounds Abundance surrounds In community I belong – but what's wrong
Alarm bells ring as in the pen
Worried neural grooves run to some wrong some lack In cat stance I prepare for attack though so steeped in abundance I ought to jump and dance
Backward Thomas in a world that proves
an aura of fire heat and pattering rain
Contextual Notes
This poem is written in response to a recent, dramatic change in my life circumstances, which I wrote about in [Suddenly, I'm a Farmer.](https://peakd.com/hive-106316/@cliffagreen/suddenly-im-a-farmer)
Katherine is Katt, my sometime girlfriend from the streets of Hoquiam, Wash. You can read our story, as well as find links to stories and poems inspired by her, in [Shoot it! – 5-minute freewrite and good news about Katt.](https://peakd.com/hive-161155/@cliffagreen/shoot-it-5-minute-freewrite-and-good-news-about-katt)
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Cover for “Backward Thomas and Once I Had a Container” designed in [Canva,](https://www.canva.com/) using their stock photo as background.
Text written by @cliffagreen without the use of AI.
Creative Coin banner designed by @ [derangedvisions](https://peakd.com/@derangedvisions).
Contributions to my $1,600 to $50,000 GoFundMe campaign can be made here: https://gofund.me/f6ea112e6.
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