Wednesday, 14 September 2016

Mirrors of Mortality - David Stone (USA) Cheryl Penn (South Africa)


MIRRORS OF MORTALITY

how can I help?
in time it may become clear
for now,
light on cave walls
is amethyst.

Mortality.
At odds with long life-lines.

The edge. discussion with Eric- took care of his sick mother for 6 years. He had no help. Feeling. objects. Darwinian pictures. Plato. attempt to resolve.
the wiring of brains. the programming of language. cultures. talk. laughter. (gods'). humaine beliefs. signals. aspirations. the heat in the center of the sun
and the cold in outer space.

Jasmine and Eric
discussing
 ideas to make this life
more palatable.

then
a turning thing
caught in the wind
of a passing train
sullen soldiers
choosing who lives or dies.

debate about chance. Eric- chance dictates all things. random principles. so many unknowns operate. conscious bridge operators. the draw bridge rises to allow a tiny sailboat to pass. motors. watching the fireworks above the skyline. losses. uncontrolled.

strange shadows
Chance?
hovering
in MY mirror
life seems ten feet away
living in parallelograms.
We built  them so long ago I can’t even remember the enemy said an old man.
Chance/Mortality/Mirrors?
short long shots.

existence denied. a bombing. some believe a harsh action delivers anxious souls to paradise.

Anarchy. Brussels. Confusion.
Disruption. Death. colossal questions yesterday today
Peloponnesian War.  Battle of Liège.   Guido.
and there (s)he was
a singular reflection
mirroring mortality
who are you?
(S)he couldn’t say
but
desperately needed air.

I think of Guido hovering above the North Sea as a kind of angel viewing the care of the living in the sea and on land. I think of Denmark-cold waves and rocky ledges. 20,000 years of human forms. forces. ideologies. all sizes. bathing minds.

Raindrops on grey water
mirrors rivers of blood

scars

skeletons
in forests awash
how dark the days of mortal pasts
(and futures)
dare we dream they may be brighter?
fires atop the oceans
axes graveyard falling
cats call/prey caught
Gregorian chants

haunting

shattered ships.

the pirate ship. a fine merlot. women and song. species of predatory birds. a puffin streaks to the cold waves,plunges 5 feet below the surface, adjusts direction for refraction and grabs a fish for a feast back home.

crows among the living
all birds take flight
new days old ways
even refractory puffins plunge.

Crows are marvelous urban creatures-finding food on streets-walking around so awkwardly pecking at discarded plastic bags,so social
in trees-hundreds or thousands of them in groups.


mortal drowning
silver claws
braided hair
just children setting out in crowds
and strange sounds
it was a battle to the death
witches accompanying.
I’m feeling happy
but slightly mad
honesty
who would you rather travel with?
crows or people?

traveling with crows-for Guido-it was a symbol of death.  for me? I think more complicated-certainly an aspect of death- maybe difference is a partially Darwinian view.  poetic traveling with crows- Guido and I both. physically? wouldn't that be laughable? Baudelaire's albatross as metaphor of the poet- very clumsy on the ground and graceful in flight- how crows walk-so clumsily.

certainly in the physical world I must prefer travel with people.

Corvidae how curious a flock or murder of crows, poor Arne, forever a seeker of shiny things. 
Morrighan talisman.
Fay Fea.
Ulster Cycle/Red Branch Cycle
O Deidre, so tra       AAAgic, Conchobar’s wrath
collective MIRRORS OF MADNESS

the sparkle and glitter. Las Vegas entertainment. poker plots. the hotels only grow larger. how shiny a million dollars in metal coins.

Dutch legend has it that there was once a small boy who upon passing a dyke on his way to school noticed a slight leak as the sea trickled in through a small hole. Knowing that he would be in trouble if he were to be late for school, the boy pocked his finger into the hole and so stemmed the flow of water. Some time later a passerby saw him and went to get help. This came in the form of other men who were able to effect repairs on the dyke and seal up the leak. This is not a myth, it’s a tale by American writer Mary Mapes Dodge ‘Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates - 1865.

Even holes in walls (never mind hotels)grow larger as do stories.
Mortality does not.


the growth of legends-a beginning trickle. waves. myths shattered yet beliefs continue 18

Are THEY
a response
to mortality?

Intriguing aspect of the theme of mortality-includes in some way every human dimension

Nemesis and Narcissus
we cannot help but give-into reflective pasts
we are the sum total of our mortal ancestors -
it ends right here buddy.
I promised I could stay
to sing a way through the stars
but kings break their promises
they’re just mortal men
still
the sounds of trapped birds is haunting.
Try to sleep
despite the coming storm -
even children could hear the sarcasm in his tone.
(Dare I not follow their steps?)
Becalmed and off course - were we friend or foe?
They stupidly thought death was glorious.

Reading poets of WWI-no romance about death. grim events.

I always say
when asking
HOW ARE YOU
give me an answer
from 1 - 10
1- Bad
10 - Excellent
I got tired of “fine”
when I felt mortal.
And I’m guessing

so were they.

a few 10's: completion of the Blackbird books (& Noah's book) and Memory Strait going into production dept at Austin Macauley. I will be seeing my friend Eric Basso tomorrow for one of our dinner/discussion meetings. new job- maybe a 2. overall feeling about life and the world- somewhere in between.  Und ihnen?
24
soms vlieg ek
soms
v
a
l
ek
Can we still be moved?
Always mortal
Always
Between
Life’s Numbers.


falling asleep-observing trees. losing and gaining sometime withdrawn analysis of memory. sometimes feeble. embossed. enumerated the evidence found.
laughter sometime pealed. a coelacanth spun homeward and learned speech.


Owls
philosophy
myths
rowing arrows floating bodies fallen oars
keep paddling
we’re rowing for our lives
lighting flash
cold dark star
his own death eludes him.
live a life worth living before you consider mortality
he couldn’t understand she understood
he hated that.
pagan rites
fully fledged
flinching in flint
Fractured.

The doctrines and the observations. Rode a train staring at the land rushing by. overland faces. construction. Ruah principles. people pray
and for some no time. a praying mantis climbs out of the pond,crawls on a rock, seems to slide forward and bites a leaf.


I was looking for that
exactly. a praying mantis
icecream pink, now tinged with black.
Hold this for me would you?
I’m wading in pretty deep -
definitely don’t want my coat tails wet.
Certain steps
and stops
an unstoppable direction
tracks in the woods
was someone watching in mirrors of mortality?

reflecting mirrored mortality

the last enemy to be destroyed is death.


I’d rather be dead
hitting the bottom
that’s where you need to be
before life can help you
here.




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