Shannon L

Oceanic Feeling 2021

Chance is a beautiful flash
fusing the world of word clusters,
flowery descriptions, and other glinting assemblages
with the cool, mechanical turn of a key

hot iron breath meets the breeze which spells
the shadows beneath the branches

when the grand narrative is scribbled
on a table napkin

When my restless gaze
meets no other for the day
and while the wasp hums a ceaseless tune
by the window frame

And when I stir about my static channel
and the incisive words no longer speared

Still I probe in the crude mud of my flesh,
and through sorrows' blank, blue abandon
for a grain of the endless one

utter permanence and extreme fragility give an equal sense of eternity – S.Weil

A blue streak of nonbeing


You said that everything has a name,
an ulterior principle,
pressing out a deathless, inexhaustible wine.

it is true, and it does not always roar,
and at times it lies there
silken and gold and dreams of goodness.

My illusion is not even a ripple
on the world's cool, metallic surface.
Where is the place where everything unites and becomes one?

Speak slower,
Look at the rays that come from those heavenly worlds. One may think
the atmosphere was made transparent with this design
Not of persons, not things, not myself.

But to awaken a certain reverence.
By loving everything, you are everything
and you are unconcerned.

On the Silver Globe (1988) – Andrzej Żuławski
Flesh of My Flesh – Kaja Silverman
Fecundity – Annie Dillard
Nature (1836) – Ralph W. Emerson