Friday, December 15, 2006
from Al Young's Heaven: Collected Poems 1956-1990 * :
By Al Young: After Visiting Arl at the Hospital
Poetry like a bent ray of light returns to these crumbling portals to find me still at home if not at ease & the message she brings is joyous to receive
Keep moving, she says Don't ever give up your search for the true home we're heir to; palatial omnipresence that begins & ends everywhere or no place according to how you choose to live or see it
The flower in this vase before me now not only smiles but winks, leaking out the same message except in flower language message is sentiment; warm & sometimes all wet like a puppy
The very sky laughs at me, saying, See you go around & around feeling sorry for yourself when all the while you're being whisked thru space & up above appearances to learn all over again that you're nothing if not spirit dreaming its otherness dreaming bent rays of light returning like poetry
(210-211)
* Al Young, Heaven (Berkeley: Creative Arts Book Co., 1992)
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