Poetry Annex
Poetry has been an integral part of my life since I was a little boy. I was writing long before I could spell. Words were always numinous to me, always leading, pointing, pulling me somewhere. When I was a teen-ager I was writing big poems; like big dreams these poems were “initiating me” at a time when I was receiving very little support and guidance from the adults in my life. (In looking back, I now see they were helping me arrive at a safe place where I could begin the more intensive work of individuation.)
I believe I have nursed a longing, all during my adult life, to find my way back to those big or ecstatic or initiatory poems. In fact such poetry, written during the waking state, complements the archetypal dreaming that animates our sleep. Certain dreams are naturally poetic while certain poetry is dreamlike; no doubt dreams are behind the greatest poetry ever written or spoken.
It was my exposure to Rumi and reading Rumi for two years that brought about a sea-change in the way I write and approach poetry. Whereas poetry used to reflect my interaction with the world, now it seems to arise from my interaction with Spirit and it mostly expresses concerns of the heart.
Salt and pepperBecause it is so lonely
Coming up through the orchard
Conversation between a cat and a poisonous centipede
When my thoughts stir
My goddess
Waltzing with winter
The gracious host
It’s zen-like