The physics of turning
is oblivious to inquiry.
It promises an event
but delivers
only spirit.
Around you,
hands and branches
signal escape.
Nothing makes you full.
An inexorable grace
is keeping you alone,
a penny in rain,
red with the absence
of spending.
--lks June 2010
This is a found poem, constructed from a selection of words gathered from The Illustrated I Ching, translated by R. L. Wing. I enjoy writing these. It's best to find a text that brings together words with what might be called a similar spirit, a common way of evoking and describing. I built one of these poems from Sheperd's Seed Catalogue this past weekend. Other recent sources have been David Abram's amazing book The Spell of the Sensuous and Barry Lopez's book Home Ground. More to come.
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About Me
- Laura
- Georgia, United States
- I live at the edge of the forest in a little town in the north Georgia mountains. I teach sixth grade Language Arts and am writing a memoir of sorts about family, spirituality, and narrative. I am also exploring a possible writing project having to do with contemporary lay contemplative experience and how it might be informed by the Desert Fathers and Mothers of early Christianity. I am a relatively recent convert to Roman Catholicism and an admirer of Pope Francis, Leonardo Boff, Joan Chittister, and Richard Rohr. I'm a Lay Associate of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery in Conyers, Georgia. I am interested in indigenous cultures, narratives, and spirituality, especially how these can inform my spirituality as a lay contemplative. I write, read, take pictures, play around with creating ephemera from paper and cloth and other organic things. I cook, hike, watch wildlife, and collect random bits of interesting oddness, both tangible and abstract. I am a seer of smallness and a caretaker of ridiculous minutiae. If you want, e-mail me at riverrun67@gmail.com or lksorrells@hotmail.com.
A very satisfying poem.
ReplyDeleteLaura, what do you mean by a "found poem"? How are you interacting with the texts you mention?
ReplyDeleteI jot down words and phrases, usually just words. sometimes I organize them according to what part of speech they are, but not always. then I pull them together into this kind of thing, here.
ReplyDeleteDave, thanks.
ReplyDelete