8/20/20
Writing on Water
by Judi Bachrach
With thanks to Elaine Colandrea and Neil Dalal for languaging the ineffable
Like Hammurabi or Ashoka
we think
to chisel our dreams
our laws for moral behavior
our democratic systems
our individual life programs
in stone steles
skyscrapers, monuments, bridges
tombstones
against forever
they crumble
into rigid irrelevance
We are all born of
the same ocean
the same ocean
our liquid eyes are pools
reflecting what they receive
the art of writing on water
adapts to constant
fluid motion
reads
the unstoppable effervescent
Intelligence of Life
Elaine Colandrea is a Continuum friend and colleague and Neil Dalal is an Associate Professor of South Asian philosophy and religious thought at the University of Alberta, Canada. They have both given me words for the poem above in each their own sphere of teaching. It was not one of those poems that fell ripe from the muse tree- nothing clicked until the last moment though the urge was swirling in the chaos of these times. There are days I am wedded to rigid stone for some kind of anchor. Then the next wave washes over me, my rocky island crumbles beneath my feet, and I am swimming again.
Beautifully written, Judi.
Coincidentally, I had some similar thoughts
http://growingupsideways.blog/2020/08/18/my-peaceful-protest-what-color-is-the-sky/
We are not alone😊💓🙏🏻
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Yes, I think it is in the “field”. Judi
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