Comments on: Zen Love Poem

By: shell

shell — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 13:59:52 +0000

i’m not sure there is a “when” to let a poem fly … i think each has its own timespace … i knew a brilliant visionary poet who said “never edit, just let go and forget it” … there’s a lot of truth in that and your poem says it too.

i also think that poems find their readers and vice versa. the heart of a poem isn’t about “too” this or that … academics would say that was sloppy thinking but i think they’re often heart-strangers by the time they get obsessed with technicalities … *watches academic world set my pyre*

By: shell

shell — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 13:53:54 +0000

“the half dark between” … where we all live, i sometimes think; this is an almost brutal concept yet it’s also compassionate … a spiritual truth … beyond judgement … and so the poem moves between clarities and masks … vivid motion seems to be the key here.

i love “palm to palm” .. i have a very old poem called “palm to psalm” … i never have succeeded in getting it “right” but the concept haunts me.

“Forgetting is sometimes The first step on the path of truth” - how true is that??

This is a love poem - endings should be as in-love as beginnings … though not many “get” that …

a deeply moving poem, Rob!

By: Room without doors

Room without doors — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 16:58:21 +0000

I like this poem a lot, tender and with a lot of poetry. I know Michelle and this poem reflects her being.

What is this disguise you have brought,
That you play in fancy dress
To my stumbling harlequin?

I loved this stanza, beautifully drawn and the imagery is exquisite, very fine. This poem has a wonderful lyrical quality, questioning values, reality and also very human. I liked:

The breath you hold in parenthesis,
Inserting your surprise, suddenly
Remembering so many beginnings.

This reminded me of Michelle, she loves discovering new things. I can hear her voice in this stanza, excellent.