Have you heard of the idea that we create worlds with language? Salmon Rushdie talked of recent hallucinations of great cathedrals made of words, the late great Terrance McKenna spoke of machine elves that he'd meet during DMT visions, making our reality from the language they speak. Not all languages have words for the past and future. Maybe, the notion of the end of the world is embedded in our language and won't come. Maybe life should always be about the now - the realness of a babies cheek, the smell of coffee and the pink strains of yarrow and becoming real.
Thank you for this and setting off a train of thought!
Yes! Yes! This is, and thank you for your note - which reminds me (again) what this poem, which poured out of my pen, spontaneous and alive, seems to be pointing to. As if to say, 'turn away from the news of the end and be with what is here.' There is so much to live for - and our attentiveness to it makes it real.
So attentiveness and then, naming - and naming can only happen if there is language. I wholeheartedly believe that language was invented so humans could share their delight in the world. Thank you for reading my poem - and for reminding me to read it again this morning. To remember to notice, to name, to love. :)
I’m resisting the end of the world. Am I a fool? I too love these sights and scents. But I will rest in peace only if I fought, worked to save the living world.
Oh, Bill. You are no fool - or perhaps, we both are. I just watched, for the third time, Interstellar, a masterpiece asking your very same questions. Fight to the end for love, for life and beauty --knowing, even as we fight, that everything passes through us.
Have you heard of the idea that we create worlds with language? Salmon Rushdie talked of recent hallucinations of great cathedrals made of words, the late great Terrance McKenna spoke of machine elves that he'd meet during DMT visions, making our reality from the language they speak. Not all languages have words for the past and future. Maybe, the notion of the end of the world is embedded in our language and won't come. Maybe life should always be about the now - the realness of a babies cheek, the smell of coffee and the pink strains of yarrow and becoming real.
Thank you for this and setting off a train of thought!
Yes! Yes! This is, and thank you for your note - which reminds me (again) what this poem, which poured out of my pen, spontaneous and alive, seems to be pointing to. As if to say, 'turn away from the news of the end and be with what is here.' There is so much to live for - and our attentiveness to it makes it real.
So attentiveness and then, naming - and naming can only happen if there is language. I wholeheartedly believe that language was invented so humans could share their delight in the world. Thank you for reading my poem - and for reminding me to read it again this morning. To remember to notice, to name, to love. :)
i thought i recognized this. i remember you standing in front of our dining room table and reading this and how moved we all were by your words. xoxom
It deserves its own spot. It’s my favorite.
Thank you, Andrea. I love this poym, too.
what a lovely poym. xoxom
I may have read this out loud at your house one day. :)
I’m resisting the end of the world. Am I a fool? I too love these sights and scents. But I will rest in peace only if I fought, worked to save the living world.
Oh, Bill. You are no fool - or perhaps, we both are. I just watched, for the third time, Interstellar, a masterpiece asking your very same questions. Fight to the end for love, for life and beauty --knowing, even as we fight, that everything passes through us.
Oh my heart. Oh Amy.
Thank you for reading this.