Article voiceover
Glimpse from I am aware to there is awareness an egoic death sentence enforced by syntactic ordinance the second a structure strangely empty of an expected element a predicate without a subject seeing without a seer hearing without a listener words reverberating as naked waves within this aerial plane bereft of meaning save for this being save for this little rippling a vibrating ride across the surface of a sturdy vessel a loyal pail held to carry water for hissing out the sizzling bits of ember whatever this I is it is as much a part of this awareness as any cloudy column as any coiling serpentine smoke rising comprises the atmosphere it resides in indivisible from the air this mortal body utilizes for surviving
OMG, Mike, I need to respond to your poem here in DM first so I don't have to worry about my wording. Well, no, never mind that, I'll put this in the responses, so others can also see how you have moved and impressed and thoroughly engaged me and made me expand my own thinking all with but a few words in a poem. You are amazing; as a thinker, as a wordsmith, as a human being! I'm not lying when I say I actually have a tear in the corner of my eye. Because I am so pleased with this performance, with the combination of skill and observation and sensitivity. I love it when the world reminds me of what a wondrous and profound potential it and I together contain!
I myself have gone from "I am breathing" to "There is breathing." And this is so important, not to force that kind of shift but to actually have it manifest on its own after enough time and reflection reveals that the "I" really is just a perception.
Now, some might resent the intellectualization of the process ("an egoic death sentence/enforced by syntactic ordinance") but I love it! And besides, it just shows how much language actually determines our conscious experience. Life is terribly funny!
I think this poem is like an invitation to contemplate awareness, perception, and our essential connection to the world. There is no "fixed self" speaking and the words are reaching for deeper truths that allow a Glimpse of the world that is beyond what we can construct our egos. You are stirring deep waters, Mike-Excellent!