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seeing and Having
| Open Poetry #43 |
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seeing and Having |
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Jaime Fradera Senior Member
since 2000-11-25
Posts 843Where no tyranny is tolerable |
Seeing and Having Because I can not fall asleep... And don't even have any sheep to count ... I am going to make something up ... You have to have it before you can see it. You must have the proper structures, of rods, cones and pigmentation in your eyes Before you can see colors. You must have the pigments for color Before you can apprehend color. You must have it before you can see it. My retinas have been destroyed. My eyes are shrunken, and my visual system has been so damaged, I can not see anything, not even darkness. Because I don't have it, I can't view it. A piano is an inert contraption Of wood and metal wires That are held at different tensions. Only when a pianist or composer Hears music in her head Can she reproduce and hear That music on the piano, and only because its wires are held to proper tension can a piano make the sounds of music. A musician must have music in his head before he can play or hear that music. Because the structures in my ears have been severely damaged, I can not hear music as others do. That is to say, Because I don't have it, I can't hear it. An artist can not paint until he holds an image in his mind. Only then can he render That image in his mind on to paper. And can make the invisible visible to us. That is to say, He must have the painting within Before he can execute the painting without. When a poetess hears the words inside her head, only then can she put them down on the computer. When a person harbors bitterness and hatred within That person will see a world of bitterness and hatred without. That is to say: what the person sees is what the person has. When a person bears in her heart a sense of wonder for the natural world, like Alison does, and Midnitesun, and a reverence for life in all its variety, only then can she see the miracles of life. Only because she harbors love within, can she hold love for others and all living things. It is because she holds a vision of the world within that she can see the same vision of the world without. She must have it before she can see it. She must see it within before she can see it without. Only when one believes in magic can one see magic in everything. You must believe magic is there before you can see magic in all things. In order to make love, One must first make love with Life, And know that she, who is the animating spirit of life, will never leave you, so that you can find incarnations of love everywhere. Only then can one bear a love encompassing all life on earth, all things animate and inanimate, the whole world And the vastness of creation To places and spaces beyond What any optical instrument can reveal. Anyway ... I have just decided that sheep do not actually exist! There are no such things as sheeps! But maybe chickens and mosquitoes do exist! And now I am too sleepy to go on typing anymore; so I guess the trick worked ... I just made this stuff up ... (yawns) I need a pillow fantasy please ... |
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Margherita Member Seraphic
since 2003-02-08
Posts 22236Eternity |
quote: Again, dear Jaime, you have expressed deeply beautiful thoughts and I stand in awe. You have beauty in you and you share it ever so perfectly. May you sleep well, but here in your poem there is nothing that yawns, rest assured. It all breathes beauty. Love, Margherita |
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Alison 
since 2008-01-27
Posts 9318Lumpy oatmeal makes me crazy! |
Jaime, One thing that always strikes me about your poetry is how much you allow us to know you and to understand you. It's like you open the gate and just invite us into your world - a world with no sight and a world with incredible insight. This poem is amazing to me because I see things as you do and hear as you do. This is only because you have invited me in and allowed me this experience and privledge (never can spell that word right). Anyway, Jaime, I think we were blessed by your sleepless night. Maybe there are no sheep - but there is always magic. xoxoxo Alison |
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Earth Angel Member Empyrean
since 2002-08-27
Posts 40215Realms of Light |
Jaime, I totally concur with the beautifully expressed sentiments of Margherita and Alison. Thank you for being you and for inviting us into your world. You are a fascinating man and a wonderfully gifted writer. Loving hug, Linda |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
You are an endless sea of wonderment, amigo Jaime. You see the world with your heart and mind, and that means you see Gaia far intimately than those who see only through rods and cones. Thank you for sharing your heart-visions with those of us who often rely too heavily on 3D visuals, overlooking what the heart sees. |
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Jaime Fradera Senior Member
since 2000-11-25
Posts 843Where no tyranny is tolerable |
Alison Your reply produced so many trains of thought and associations in me that I cannot type fast enough so this is at the risk of boring you with a long letter and I will try not to ramble by going on and on and ... ... and ... I mean, words rather fail me but I'll try ... Your assumption of the object of the poem was correct. It was a way of talking about myself without doing it, to avoid any charge of immodesty ... I referred to myself euphemistically by talking about "the other person" but you could see right through! What I couldn't find a way to explain was that I was talking with myself, or maybe among my selves, that I was using the poem to help me become more complete ... more loving, more caring, more gentle and more of all those things that are good, wholesome and beautiful; and I imagine that all those things are incarnated in you (although I'm sure you have a dark and nasty side just like everybody else) ... but it is a projection of myself onto you. That is what I imagine to be you. I knew that the reference to the natural world would deeply resonate with you as well as with me; so that I was, indirectly, writing this for you. It this begs explanation, can I bug you with more of my made up belief and religion? I am a fan of Jung and his model of inner figures. I adopt the idea that each of us is composed of a number of sub personalities, which is like an inner family or a gang of "you can do it!" inner cheerleaders, and that this gang, this family, must be on good terms with each other if ever they can face the world as a unified and coherent force; the board of directors have to agree on what must be done. I believe that every encounter with a person in the outer world triggers the activation of one or more of these inner figures, so that what "happens" outside simultaneously "happens" within," and through the lens of imagination we can look through each other and see reflections of ourselves. It is this rabble and gabble of inner figures cheering squad of close friends who will see to it that you will make it through this veil of tears and sometimes a too harsh and unforgiving world. That is how I came to know our Kacy, Midnitesun. But let's hold hands, count one two three, and jump into this life together. Ali, it astonishes me how quickly cyber friendships can develop and deepen ... We don't see each other ... we can't go out ... we can't visit and we can not talk in the usual way; but the computer is just a tool and a forum the medium for doing it. I can't be with you ... Yet I can be with each reader personally when the reader reads my poems. And when I read yours, it's as if you where here, with me and for me ... maybe it is that we're on the OP43 that this can happen. Ali, through emailing, chatting and writing with you, you are as dear to me as anyone I've known, both on and off line. And, Ali, given the constraints imposed by distance and the vagaries of email and chat servers, I want to be there with you and for you. I want to be right there when you need a shoulder, I want to be a friend with you for life. It doesn't matter how old you are, or what you do, or what you look like, but no such things will ever disappoint me, because you seem to me to be real and genuine to the core. And I can trust you completely and absolutely; I know that if I were drowning in a muskeg, for instance, you would be right there. O, Ali ... I pour so much of my heart to you through this stupid keyboard. But now I better stop. My back is sore from sitting in one place. I'd better go eat some junk, and go do something decadent and naughty, like listen to punk rock for awhile. I can do Safeway on the way back from church ... Jaime Why get up if you don't have to? |
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