Jun 11, 2009 9

Poetry Thursday: Crowdedness and roominess

outofthecrowd_brtsergio

I hear
there is a magical place of ease
of grace
of flowingness
where one’s mind is like water
one’s desk is, like, clean
and shit gets done
by the bucketload
without the effort
ever feeling effortful.

I have bought
the occasional day pass
to this magical place
only to be called back
by sudden conflagration
or cold-sweat-panic
to the Land of the Exploding To-Do List

I love the idea
of me as Zen monk
as Mr. Miyagi
as Peaceful Warrior
but not enough
it seems
to do the heavy lifting
or the letting go
which is heavy lifting
of another color

So for now I will simply
observe myself
dealing with crowdedness
dabbling in roominess
and leave it at that
trusting that somewhere
between the waves
of crowdedness
and roominess
I will find my balance
or make my peace
with the lack of it

Which
I’m fairly certain
is just balance
of another color

Image by brtsergio via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.

Posted in: The Personal Ones,The Political Ones

Positively Present June 11, 2009 at 4:37 am

I love Poetry Thursday! You are such an amazing writer and I get so much pleasure from reading your poems. This is my favorite part…

So for now I will simply
observe myself
dealing with crowdedness
dabbling in roominess
and leave it at that
trusting that somewhere
between the waves
of crowdedness
and roominess
I will find my balance
or make my peace
with the lack of it

ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!

Judith June 11, 2009 at 6:37 am

So when are you going to do a book of your poems? Frankly I’d buy one in a NY minute and I don’t even like poetry.

Yours though is the best I’ve read.

Judith

kate clarke June 11, 2009 at 7:54 am

ditto

Pace June 11, 2009 at 8:48 am

Oh my gosh, Colleen, you made me cry again. This place you’re writing about is my home.

Bert June 11, 2009 at 2:45 pm

Zen is like a bitter mistress. Just as you attain enlightenment, she gets PMS.

the communicatrix June 11, 2009 at 3:17 pm

Really? A poetry book?

Hm…if I make a book of my poetry-which-is-not-really-poetry, then maybe the book is not really a book, which takes the pressure off.

Hmm…

(And Pace, you and the bawling. Seriously. If we ever sit down to watch Dancer in the Dark together, we’re going to have to get a stack of king-sized bed sheets to use as Kleenex.)

Danielle LaPorte June 11, 2009 at 9:23 pm

dreamy sigh. I know this monastery….

PB Rippey June 13, 2009 at 9:34 pm

I think “dabbling in roominess” is a WONDERFUL line.

the communicatrix June 15, 2009 at 1:28 pm

Danielle – Having met you, I’ve no doubt.

PB – Thank you! But an even better concept, I think.

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