Let a metaphor be your guide into the underworld
In the Inferno, the poet Virgil is Dante’s guide into the underworld, where secrets are revealed. A metaphor can do the same for you as you write. When you push at its edges, a metaphor can reveal what’s hidden about the concept you’re attaching it to. Paul Johnson saw in this image of the Buontalenti Grotto in Florence, Italy, a metaphor for courtship. As you read, you’ll feel him pushing the edges of the metaphor, taking details from the image and the group word list to tease out resonance and meaning.
So, when you get an idea for an arresting metaphor—an unexpected but somehow apt comparison—don’t stay on the threshold. Follow the metaphor as it illuminates and reveals perceptions that would otherwise be hidden. Head on down into the underworld, trusting that Virgil—let’s give the imagination that name, as Dante did—will guide you.
From the outside, it's craggy, it's jagged, it’s bumpy—in so many ways, it seems uninviting. And yet there are those who seek to sneak a peak. Some are turned off or turned away; some tolerate it; some understand its responsibility and are weighed down; and some are merely voyeuristic. And upon looking just beyond the surface, one may understand. Just beyond the veil, it appears just another power dynamic, a game of cat and mouse, of pursuit and disappointment. Just across the threshold, there is apparent reluctance and manipulation—inequity, imbalance, injustice—the kettle is set and the ingredients for anger merge and roll. But it is actually the initial stages of the dance; it is pursue and elude, a degree of mirthfulness, for only one so trusted can get so close to be held back. It is deflection, not defeat; it is turned aside, not turned down. It truly is “keep coming” in the context of “not yet”. For look beyond this initial dance, to the delight beyond, to the naked and unashamed afterglow, to the sacred exposure and the slight covering from the cold outside that momentarily reaches through the warmth inside. These are the games lovers discreetly play—coy, hard to get—in choosing revelation to reach sacred shared vulnerability. It is hard to get so one must play hard to get. From the outside looking in, it is work; a hope and a risk. From the inside looking out, it is reward; a longing fulfilled. It is home, it is peace; it is oneness. It is… Intimacy.
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