The History of the World resting on a boy’s bed:
a book, the picture on its cover
becomes sharp-focussed in my gaze –
images reflected through a line of symmetry,
New York skyline growing upwards,
Stonehenge reversed below.
Like old rock, I am here,
hewn from ancient mountain sediment,
sailed on savage waters and
set in hallowed downland space.
There New York rises,
birthed from mind of modern man,
built on aspirations;
a shrine, yet forcing subtle sacrifice
of things human and divine.
The line divides like a breathless heart
but, as I realise I’m part of the whole,
the tide mark stirs, swelling a pulse,
causing a bleed of one to the other,
concrete into stone.
Time stops, place stands still,
all things merge:
one face, non-symmetrical,
with symmetry becomes two –
left and right –
I and someone else.
but always one and the same.
The History of the World,
The Grand Illusion of Time and Place:
yesterday today is everyone,
all things and everywhere.
This IS something different but it is a fascinating read. The mark of a great poet is always versatility and you dear Kate are queen supreme. I've never known anyone with such an ability to create with words. You know how much I envy this but also how grateful I am that I can share in it through reading. Thanks for your inspiration as always...
with love
Chanti
We can build a New York but we can't build a copy of the great Pyramid (there is not a crane in the world with the reach to lift the top rows of stones into position)and even though we could cut and mill the stones of the grat henge and have the equipment to put them into position, we cannot understand the philosophy contained in that arrangement of megaliths. Again and again I come upon evidence that the ancients knew a lot of stuff we haven't a clue about.
Loved the poem.
Ian
When you mix philosophy with poetry, Kate you really soar. This is a magnificiant piece that shows the diversity of man. Excellent write!! I am off to feast on more than I can stand, finish it off with a piece of pumpkin pie, then come home and fall asleep...Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!! I hope you are feeling better and healing well.
Take care,
Sherry
Damn freddy flintoff has just been bowled out as i read this. Not good.
Kinda thinking blows my mind out.
Like what really is time?
So the west country meets the wild west. Them skyline building are over powering..much prefer the gentleness of stonehenge. Even when working at middle wollop..
mystic karrot kruncher meets mystic NY bagel...
A boy's image of the world history is going to be biased by the mental copies of what he has seen and read in and around his locality. Much of it is extrapolation, nonetheless it has its own cartography. There are some excellent oblique analogies,isomorphisms to bring in time, picture of history and what comes out...IS that is ultimately resting on a boy's head. I found a touch of Borges' "Map" and "Compass" and a bit of USA/ASU isomorphism. Former is easily available, and popular for the latter I should make an explanation:
Let all of us start making a detailed map of USA, from scratch with our own mental image, provided the outline is given. It is more likely that the person who has travelled most will get a more accurate map. For example, say somebody who knows about New York, San Francisco, LA, Washington DC, Philadelphia with their suburbs can extrapolate their personal maps into the whole of USA. At some places their assumptions will match with the actual map, at some places their maps will magnify the actual place with more references than in the actual map, and at some places it will be worse. But roughly each of them will get a good view of the alternative structure of the union (ASU), their map may not be the USA but roughly the same...History of the world, that remains, is almost like that!Cities have changed, tastes have changed, the underlying symmetries stayed intact. A thought-provoking post.
I've been noting the theme of time popping up again around the den, including several of my own, a few not yet posted -- but THIS... this, Kate, wraps up the ever-changing history of the world but at the same time smashes presuppositions about time, place and separation and reveals something extraordinary about ourselves. masterful poem! Happy Thanksgiving to you even if you don't eat turkey. Dawn
in the collective unconscious, everything exists in the grand design of being alive and becoming into being ... the "History of the World" formulates the coexistence of knowing everywhere is within everyone, the grand illusion is real and time is but vision ... great imagery, kate ...
As always Kate you see and express the ideas and illusions or even dis illusions so prevalient in our world today. YOu grab your topic out of the air and build it into a work of genius and do it so modestly that you should be chastised for not bragging about a work like this. Well done sweet Kate, well done.
Oh I like this! You've captured
it Kate, the "Grand Illusion".
"I and someone else
but always one and the same"
That's awesome, now why didn't I
think of that? LOL I gotta get
in gear a bit. Great work!
This is an intellectual pivot of where society stands in human history. The way Kate has juxtaposed Stonehenge and New York City, she has placed the development of humanity as a whole. This write alone is history-making.
The Grand Illusion of Time and Place has the capacity to shift from one time period to another, from the political to the psychological, from the national(shrine builder)budgets of the world, from the theological school to military establishment, to the oil industry, to the contemporary poet.
This is a cohesive assessment that stands as strong as the Druidic bluestone pillars of humankind. However one wants to measure this write depends on the time of day where time is measured at Stonehenge by the sun shining on the bluestone and in Times Square in New York. Very progressive opus, Kate!
(((HUGS))) and much love, your friend in america, karen lynn in texas. :D
happy thanksgiving to you and yours; i will be gone for a few days (working tomorrow--GRRRR!!--, library closed until monday--DOUBLE GRRR!!). take care, and see you next week! :)
My book of poetry is being redone by me, I have a beautiful cover designed and the book will have a few more than 200 poems in it. I am going to have it printed on demand here in Canada. When it is done I will let you know when it is done and if anyo
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Tami
with love
Chanti
Loved the poem.
Ian
Take care,
Sherry
Kinda thinking blows my mind out.
Like what really is time?
So the west country meets the wild west. Them skyline building are over powering..much prefer the gentleness of stonehenge. Even when working at middle wollop..
mystic karrot kruncher meets mystic NY bagel...
Let all of us start making a detailed map of USA, from scratch with our own mental image, provided the outline is given. It is more likely that the person who has travelled most will get a more accurate map. For example, say somebody who knows about New York, San Francisco, LA, Washington DC, Philadelphia with their suburbs can extrapolate their personal maps into the whole of USA. At some places their assumptions will match with the actual map, at some places their maps will magnify the actual place with more references than in the actual map, and at some places it will be worse. But roughly each of them will get a good view of the alternative structure of the union (ASU), their map may not be the USA but roughly the same...History of the world, that remains, is almost like that!Cities have changed, tastes have changed, the underlying symmetries stayed intact. A thought-provoking post.
D
Beautifully illustrated, masterfully penned. Thought provoking excellence!
(((((HUGS))))) and love, Karla.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Eileen
Pops
Happy Thanksgiven to you sis!!
Love Tinka
it Kate, the "Grand Illusion".
"I and someone else
but always one and the same"
That's awesome, now why didn't I
think of that? LOL I gotta get
in gear a bit. Great work!
The Grand Illusion of Time and Place has the capacity to shift from one time period to another, from the political to the psychological, from the national(shrine builder)budgets of the world, from the theological school to military establishment, to the oil industry, to the contemporary poet.
This is a cohesive assessment that stands as strong as the Druidic bluestone pillars of humankind. However one wants to measure this write depends on the time of day where time is measured at Stonehenge by the sun shining on the bluestone and in Times Square in New York. Very progressive opus, Kate!
Sage
(((HUGS))) and much love, your friend in america, karen lynn in texas. :D
happy thanksgiving to you and yours; i will be gone for a few days (working tomorrow--GRRRR!!--, library closed until monday--DOUBLE GRRR!!). take care, and see you next week! :)