Where I Stand

Rain fell, sometimes it falls, and can have fallen, when?
in the early morning darkness. My scattered keepsakes, my reminders were reached for in the first few drops

of the need for morning to be morning

and for spring to be spring, regardless of the hour
Sky and Earth, one wide undivided shadow with barest form,

a cloud slowly burst, giving song, in a slow

steady rise of sound following the gush of raindrops.
The earth murmuring, the earth murmuring,
quickly came, and then? and rested.
The clouds were guessed to be thin, was it the wish it was.
Now and then sunlight peeks through a blue lake,

pooled up on the grey landscape of sky

where I stand.

Evolving proposition of Four

_the taming power of the great_

Look at a person,what you should be seeing

is a thread of uncommon metal

being pulled from a forge

a spell is more easily broken than cast, a life

more easily shattered,

than being seen for what it is.

I do ask this of you,

Seek a pathway deep into the forest, given signs,

when a hallowed clearing is found and a tree

whose leaves carry a spectral light

where the whole air is given to music.

Take one breath, seal it in folds of your cloak.

Return with this one human detail

deciphered from an olden script

worthy of remembrance, brought by you to our feet

in the name of the most high.

We may not have words to explain the common knowing

that when your name was spoken

we could see the uncommon tone of color on her cheek.

Evolving proposition of Four

_a small exceeding_

Dwell on this choice even for the flash of an instance

and no longer will it be yours to make.

Forget the world of companions,

who would come near you

reeling and dancing while dragging a comforting corpse.

They can see the hand that shook by your heels,brought to your feet,

this time, who would not be afraid?

of the keepsake you have, of looking down

and really seeing them for the first time.

One thing you needed

because you could not live without it

another because once you'd found it

you could not let it go.

Stay to long,you'll get the beating you deserve,

helpless to return anything but a deep glance.

The choice had been between water and love's fire.

Everyone knows you cannot drink fire, not even a sip.

Swallowing a fatal dose of majesty,

you speak the the invisible laugh and silent knowing reach of space.

Evolving proposition of Four

_Providing-For_

Today I may choose a leaf and a smooth stone to be among the objects

which will go with me when we visit water,

Just the perfect number that can easily be carried

curled in one arm and my free hand.

The reason for coming had not been forgotten,

what an odd way to make tea.

There are things to ready,direction noted,incense set out,

take care when you arrange the seats, one doubt,

the guests will vanish,the favored moment

when the fog rises reaching for the morning sun wasted.

You can forget the little picture that would only fade

once captured by the mind.

We are playing. The leaves float away,

the stones color renewed,

we are face to face and the water is pleased.

_CENTER RETURNING_

Writing like any other human action can be either one spontaneous deliberate gesture, or a series of expressions subject to any number of deliberate changes. A writer might take up a pen allowing a word or phrase to come into being and remain then unchanged; or take that same word or phrase and transform it again. What this shows is the weaving of continuous and discontinuous threads into our expressive actions.

There can be many goals of directed action, a potter may wish to give a gift to a friend. Think how comic it would be if to fulfill this goal they simply wrapped up a soft piece of clay,adding, "I wasn't sure what to get you". Instead they would choose a form say a cup,taking the clay and turning a vessel on the wheel. After this they might decide,this cup should have a handle...no, two handles... then add that element. Of course any other element added towards completion of the gift is another deliberate gesture added to the process.

I-ching hexagrams are a wonderful example showing a cycle of continuity based on combined broken and unbroken lines. They are used here to show how simply something can evolve selecting forms based on continuous and discontinuous elements.

Take the first I-ching symbol of six unbroken lines or gestures,for this exercise I spontaneously and deliberately choose the first six words that came to mind.

CALL

SAME

NEAT

ROAD

SOOTH

ANY

Bold and deliberate yes, but enigmatic to the point of being unintelligible.

Now sprinkle a bit of pixie dust....and impose the rule of a different hexagram on the first, that of six broken lines each line then given one deliberate change, one spontaneous mental transformation.

CALL..............A message to you

SAME.............Like a word sent to me

NEAT.............Is like sharing the work of sweeping the floor

ROAD............is a way to travel

SOOTH..........is a way to turn the dark aloneness of space

ANY..............into possibilities

The continuities are evolving together and in the case of the last two lines evolving in tandem. Looking at this for sense and spirit I reasoned deliberately changing the third and fourth lines was my next move, giving a new hexagram.

_____

_____

__ __

__ __

_____

_____

A message to you

Like a word sent to me

Is like sharing the work of sweeping the floor following familiar steps

that renew the earth on which we stand and walk.

Is a way to travel within, to sit on the holy mountain and proclaim one song

Is a way to turn the dark aloneness of space

into possibilities.

This illustrates the potential of using order to guide our most spontaneous deliberate gestures, and further in how a final copy so to speak could be reached. It's like a balance of stream of consciousness with formalism in a working relationship.

Pixie dust....fuckin eh.....