To connect. To converse. To respond. To listen. To silence.
Through poetry.
He has been gently ambushed again.
By another strand of another poem.
Unlike sticky-backs in the ditches, the strands of a poem don't cling. They are more like a cobweb, where even if they do ensnare you, they are neither sharp nor harsh.
No. Poem-strands are like the wisps which spiders unspool to catch the breeze and take them through the air to wherever they will land. Neither they — nor we — can ever be sure where the strands will land, where they will take us if we let them.
But in the case of poetry, it's as if the spider lets the web-wisp go altogether, and does not travel itself — a gift to the unknown poet.
And the strand spools and dives through the air until it lands in the heart of that poet. And then they take it, gently wrap it and twine it around the fork ends of a beech branch.
And as the poet continues to twirl, the web-wisp grows and grows, until it becomes a beautiful dream catcher.
With this, the poet weave their web through
the breeze, the trees,
the shore, the tide, the stream, the bay,
the sun, the moon,
the peak, the valley,
the party, the funeral, the wedding, the christening welcome,
the singing,
the shouting, the seething, the falling, the surrender,
the rise, the sweep, the splay, the opening,
the closing, the thinking, the feeling,
the walking, the running, the shuffling, the crawling, the gripping,
the crying, the laughing, the cooking, the eating, the drinking,
the drying, the sowing, the searching, the rain, the fall.
And then the poet will hold the branch up to the stars, and gaze at every shimmering dew-drop the catcher has caught.
And be in a language beyond words.
Tomás Ó Ruairc 28 April 2024
"…hello to today, to this world, to you." Sifting the Silence #93
"What you truly are has never had an argument with life, you have always been in love with this…" - John Astin
"But that's the thing about having vision. It's not about always being right about the future. It's about constantly learning what's right and striving for it." - Daniel Jonce Evans writing of his wife Rachel Held Evans (d. 2019)
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." Anne Frank
"Our greatest experiences are our quietest moments." Friedrich Nietzsche
I don't speak because I know that something is true. I speak because I hope that conversation between us will unveil a little more truth. Mini-me (Inspired by the writings of Mark Nepo)
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