This past weekend I opened a book of poetry that's been sitting unopened on a shelf in my studio ever since I moved in over two years ago, just prior to the arrival of Covid in January of 2020. The first poem I turned to made me smile as it was an offering from Charles Bukowski, a poet first encountered through Trooper York's online aberrations. It also reminded me of mention made previously by a commenter here on death as a hunter, and edutcher's recent post on fighting.
a song with no end
when Whitman wrote, "I sing the body electric"
I know what he
meant
I know what he
wanted:
to be completely alive every moment
in spite of the inevitable.
we can't cheat death but we can make it
work so hard
that when it does take
us
it will have known a victory just as
perfect as
ours.
--Charles Bukowski
Reading it, I felt fortified and connected in a way I haven't experienced in a long time due to the fear, anxiety, overwhelm and confusion that has come along with the political use and misuse of all things Covid.
Then, when I turned the page to another, entitled, "Under Ideal Conditions" by Al Zolynas, I was further reminded of the power and freedom I still hold to stand in an empty and desolate place and step forward and back on my own volition, into my own awareness of the presence, reality, and mystery of light in darkness.
I'm grateful to have found both poems waiting to reinforce the power of choice, song, light, community, perseverance, commitment, focus, and the value of finding a place to stand.
Under Ideal Conditions
say in the flattest part of North Dakota
on a starless moonless night
no breath of wind
a man could light a candle
then walk away
every now and then
he could turn and see
the candle burning
seventeen miles later
provided conditions remained ideal
he could still see the flame
somewhere between the seventeenth and eighteenth mile
he would lose the light
if he were walking backwards
he would know the exact moment
when he lost the flame
he could step forward and find it again
back and forth
dark to light light to dark
what's the place where the light disappears?
where the light reappears?
don't tell me about photons
and eyeballs
reflection and refraction
don't tell me about one hundred and eighty-six thousand
miles per second and the theory of relativity
all I know is that place
where the light appears and disappears
that's the place where we live.
My prayer and hope: May I live in that place and not lose sight of light or levity in the face of darkness and gravity.
8 comments:
Thought you meant Charles Buchinski, which made me wonder how he wrote poetry in between all those action movies.
I am such a low brow.
Or maybe a unibrow?
Wally Moon had the best unibrow.
Trooper has been posting butchered Bukoski for years, here and at his other place. IIRC some of it has appeared under the heading of Panda Sex, which has me leaning toward believing some sort of low-brow mental divert is par for the course.
Furrowed brow is another possibility, with fertile places for diverse seeds of thought to fall and germinate.
Fertilized, of course, by a pass over the head after an ass-wiping with feelings has been accomplished.
I like that image of seeing a candle across 17 miles of flat land. I would have picked the Mississippi Delta or Florida south of lake Okeechobee, but that's just me.
Apparently the Sonoran Desert Toad took Mike Tyson to that place where the light disappears and brought him back again. And for those who are so inclined he'd like to help them take that toad trip.
https://nypost.com/2021/11/16/mike-tyson-died-while-tripping-on-psychedelic-toad-venom/
Well alrighty then - Tyson tripping balls - no one needs to be around when that happens!
Ho Lee Kow!
He’s now tripped toad 53 times — sometimes three times in the same day. He said he lost 100 pounds in three months, started boxing again, and reconnected with his wife and children...“It has made me more creative and helps me focus,” he said. “I’m more present as a businessman and entrepreneur
Looks like ol'Linus is missing the magic and writing the wrong dead guy. He needs to hoss up and sign up for a visit to the toad farm.
Post a Comment