Great words of wisdom that have double meaning due to the enjambments. Two ways different lines can be read which gives the poem more depth. 'Wisdom lies' is a good example of this.
With the brief but intense amount of my experience in 14 summer Shakespeare comedies and tragedies, I have learned to write with a speaking voice in mind that is really helped by the spacing and the line use, along with commas and sometimes periods. Also my 30 plus years of writing haiku with its particular intonations, which I'm thinking I should start posting... now that the last 10 days of a new feeling of hope and freedom have let up on my nervous system .....,,,,,
Yes! Keeping the speaking voice in mind is crucial to my process, and I typically read (and often record) my own poems many times aloud as I edit them. I let THEM tell me where they need to be changed! They have minds of their own; I am just the conduit. Many artists say this, and it's a bit of a cliché, but I have really found it to be true.
I really appreciate your reading of my work, and your insightful commentary! Very cool to learn of your background.
And yes, I encourage you to post your work!! I'd love to see it.
I have found in my old age that discernment is terribly important. I will admit that the poets I have found here on Substack make me think, give me joy, and make me smile. So , thank you Mike.
Thank YOU, Monica! One thing I learned recently is that *all* feelings originate in the body. Where else could they be? Even our brain is our body, of course, but a feeling always starts with the nervous system itself somehow causing/sensing a feeling. (Or perhaps the nervous system isn't the cause, but a correlation, but we don't have to get into metaphysics!) Once I start noticing words and images being attached to that feeling, I know thought is starting to get involved. Perhaps it's a gray area and not a binary distinction. Who knows! I am so grateful for your readership.
Thank you, Mike, as always, for making me think AND feel! Your admonition to trust only in oneself is solid --- but poems like yours help those thoughts and feelings of mine come into sharper focus. And for that, I thank you. It's an interactive process, don't you think?
Absolutely! Every poem, ever piece of art, is a collaboration between author and audience. Sometimes those two are the same person, and even then, when I read my own poems (especially from months or years ago), they have something to teach me. It's pretty wild. All of the wonderful comments I receive here enter my memories, my mind, my psyche, and contribute to the next poem! We are all poets.
Yes!! I see iterations everywhere: in the vibration of a guitar string, a loop of code, vocal folds vibrating to produce speech and beautiful singing, lovemaking, breathing, heartbeat, the laughter of a child... Birth and death. Genes mixing and matching with each generation. Our body's stride as we walk. The elliptical orbits of planets and stars. Reading a poem over and over as part of the editing process. Getting lost in thought and snapping back to awareness.
In this way, it seems clear to me that there is no "purpose" or "goal" to existence. We are not simply tools for an end, some icy block without movement. We are here to sing and dance, and it is in the iterations that we experience the present moment, which is everything.
I restacked this with this note because I like it so much:
This poem is a wonderful piece of true knowledge because what Mike truly knows is what he feels. And ‘feelings (to quote something C J Heck said recently)) ‘are part of the fabric of the universe.’
Cool poem. I think it is best to trust oneself. Listen to others for sure. Dive deep into their thoughts and lives, it can be fun. But in the end only trust your own conclusion. Even though we're all connected we're also unique in our own ways. Cheers, Mike
Thanks so much for your reading and thoughtful comments, Joe, and for restacking! Yes, oneself is the only person we will always have, no matter what. Learning to be at peace with oneself is such a comforting and useful life skill to practice.
This is great, Mike. Your line, “do not trust anything a poet says“ reminds me of something Krishnamurti once said. Someone was pressuring him about something or other, as if he were the authority, and he replied, “Who me? I’m nothing. I’m nobody!”
Yes, I can't remember if it's also Krishnamurti or some other spiritual leader, but I remember Alan Watts discussing someone who would answer deep questions from his pupils with a response that went something like, "Oh, come now, Shiva, I can see it's really you behind those eyes! Don't play ignorant with me!" As if the full depth of God is contained in each and every one of us, and we can only truly *know* it by deeply feeling what's going on inside.
Great words of wisdom that have double meaning due to the enjambments. Two ways different lines can be read which gives the poem more depth. 'Wisdom lies' is a good example of this.
Thanks, Daniel! Yes, I often find that whitespace and line breaks are almost as important as the words themselves in poetry.
With the brief but intense amount of my experience in 14 summer Shakespeare comedies and tragedies, I have learned to write with a speaking voice in mind that is really helped by the spacing and the line use, along with commas and sometimes periods. Also my 30 plus years of writing haiku with its particular intonations, which I'm thinking I should start posting... now that the last 10 days of a new feeling of hope and freedom have let up on my nervous system .....,,,,,
Yes! Keeping the speaking voice in mind is crucial to my process, and I typically read (and often record) my own poems many times aloud as I edit them. I let THEM tell me where they need to be changed! They have minds of their own; I am just the conduit. Many artists say this, and it's a bit of a cliché, but I have really found it to be true.
I really appreciate your reading of my work, and your insightful commentary! Very cool to learn of your background.
And yes, I encourage you to post your work!! I'd love to see it.
I have found in my old age that discernment is terribly important. I will admit that the poets I have found here on Substack make me think, give me joy, and make me smile. So , thank you Mike.
Thank YOU, Monica! One thing I learned recently is that *all* feelings originate in the body. Where else could they be? Even our brain is our body, of course, but a feeling always starts with the nervous system itself somehow causing/sensing a feeling. (Or perhaps the nervous system isn't the cause, but a correlation, but we don't have to get into metaphysics!) Once I start noticing words and images being attached to that feeling, I know thought is starting to get involved. Perhaps it's a gray area and not a binary distinction. Who knows! I am so grateful for your readership.
When I think what I feel and feel what I think, I end up writing poetry.
Food for thought, and drink for feeling. Or vice versa. Thank you, Paul!
Thank you, Mike, as always, for making me think AND feel! Your admonition to trust only in oneself is solid --- but poems like yours help those thoughts and feelings of mine come into sharper focus. And for that, I thank you. It's an interactive process, don't you think?
Absolutely! Every poem, ever piece of art, is a collaboration between author and audience. Sometimes those two are the same person, and even then, when I read my own poems (especially from months or years ago), they have something to teach me. It's pretty wild. All of the wonderful comments I receive here enter my memories, my mind, my psyche, and contribute to the next poem! We are all poets.
“Iterations,” of course!!!
Yes!! I see iterations everywhere: in the vibration of a guitar string, a loop of code, vocal folds vibrating to produce speech and beautiful singing, lovemaking, breathing, heartbeat, the laughter of a child... Birth and death. Genes mixing and matching with each generation. Our body's stride as we walk. The elliptical orbits of planets and stars. Reading a poem over and over as part of the editing process. Getting lost in thought and snapping back to awareness.
In this way, it seems clear to me that there is no "purpose" or "goal" to existence. We are not simply tools for an end, some icy block without movement. We are here to sing and dance, and it is in the iterations that we experience the present moment, which is everything.
Thanks for being here, Hal!!
I restacked this with this note because I like it so much:
This poem is a wonderful piece of true knowledge because what Mike truly knows is what he feels. And ‘feelings (to quote something C J Heck said recently)) ‘are part of the fabric of the universe.’
Thank you so much, Martin. Your attention is so valued here.
You may like this one too, one of my favorites from my own catalogue: https://mikesperiosu.substack.com/p/poet-space
Trust in your gut. It’s what I believe.
Yes! What else can we do? You can plan and calculate until the cows come home, but eventually, every decision must be a gut decision.
you are the awareness behind your thoughts.
Indeed. Thanks for reading!
Cool poem. I think it is best to trust oneself. Listen to others for sure. Dive deep into their thoughts and lives, it can be fun. But in the end only trust your own conclusion. Even though we're all connected we're also unique in our own ways. Cheers, Mike
Thanks so much for your reading and thoughtful comments, Joe, and for restacking! Yes, oneself is the only person we will always have, no matter what. Learning to be at peace with oneself is such a comforting and useful life skill to practice.
This is great, Mike. Your line, “do not trust anything a poet says“ reminds me of something Krishnamurti once said. Someone was pressuring him about something or other, as if he were the authority, and he replied, “Who me? I’m nothing. I’m nobody!”
Yes, I can't remember if it's also Krishnamurti or some other spiritual leader, but I remember Alan Watts discussing someone who would answer deep questions from his pupils with a response that went something like, "Oh, come now, Shiva, I can see it's really you behind those eyes! Don't play ignorant with me!" As if the full depth of God is contained in each and every one of us, and we can only truly *know* it by deeply feeling what's going on inside.
Beautiful, enlightening and wise, as you are.
Trust in you.
Now... what are you?
Silly me... you are beautiful, enlightening and wise 🙏🥰
I am a man, just as much a frond of Infinity as you or anyone else! We all have the wisdom we need inside us.
Thank you so much for your readership and support, Forrest.