All into one space after Anne Waldman
Con/Jur/d, 6/10/2021
After all, it’s impossible to argue
with poets, prophets
When I met Anne Waldman
I could still write,
the horizon stretched around
the World, perspective
could travel 360 degrees, 40,075 kilometers and
21 centimeters, back to
where we are looking, easy
Before everything, everyone
was frozen behind glass
Even her poem, How to Write, is the same,
identical, everywhere smooshed
we’re compressed flat, in the airport,
in my paper-strewn office, walking down the
stairs,
just in time, I freeze
wait for my Soul to return, feet on separate steps
I don’t tumble
How many times a day do we compress,
lose our molecular mass?
Pressed beyond a first, second, or third draft,
overwritten, illegible,
They’re doing their best to make us all surface,
with no depth,
blame a fear of death
Pictures don’t die. They just decay
Sometimes the power goes out
they blink, cease to exist
without pain, boredom, suffering
I’ve been assured as soon as the
the solar fields, and the Sun Drill Platform,
are finished, trademarked,
copywrote, branded
we’ll be back as bright as before,
brighter where the shadows are deeper,
the Sun fails to shine
On the other side of this mirror, I’m crying
I know you are too
No matter how simple, true
these human emotions,
*The Festival of Words!* are complicated,
shiny, colorful, embedded, and squished
together in this petri-dish,
where we are easy to manipulate
Drugs remind us, "You're in charge,"
although, we need the Artists
to seize control
again,
help prop up the roof,
hollow out a space for the living,
apply paint thick and thin,
to every object-emitting gravity,
no matter how weak, and
to write words,
fleshing out the rocks and the trees and the sand
the roads, and paths, outside here,
and music, yes music
rolling through the air
roiling our bodies,
manifesting in space
this space
Where we write
When she first read
What her voice and hand said
in 1968,
the same space,
now as it was then
Careful! Don’t stumble
dimensional
steps
can be
tricky
Well, y'all, doing started here ended there. I'm blaming the eclipse. If you're into the astrology thing I highly recommend following Mountain Bruja
who should have a blog or substack soon but for now, https://www.instagram.com/mountainbruja/
Later,
Con/Jur/d, 6/10/2021