Philosophical Visitation #37

PHILOSOPHICAL VISITATION 37

Why can’t you be like a Central Committee,
or be Euclidean?

“Different from Rimbaud, I don’t even know
the secret of my own sideshow."

Her wedding ring finger with the white circle
of skin at the base trembled.

“You see, I am trying to get out of a language
that sneaks binary oppositions into
our consciousness.”

Have you ever considered being a Tennyson
or Parsifal
and seeking the Holy Grail?

“I once believed in Mermen and Mermaids.
I even believed in the narratives
spoken by tea leaves.
But it was revealed to me in a dream
as interpreted by my Jungian analyst
that such tales were trapdoors.”

I heard you have perverse taste,
for you do not like
The Vatican, jazz, blues, tattoos, or regiments.

“I adore dulcimer music
If played by a musician
with long, straight, white-gold blonde hair.
But something must be done
about the ‘old language.’ ”

Something must be done about “old men” like you.


Duane Locke

Posted over on Quill and Ink