#2049 - here we are

2049

6.222

10.viii.25

here we are

giving time to the image

ekphrastic for the author photo on the front of the book

 

 

some are clad, some not yet

one might read a parable just there

 

the innocent, yet doubt

there’s no one free of care

 

before the invention of anything

here’s this world to which I am given

 

on the dresser, is it?

a careful chaos of potions and pins

that brass Thai jewellery box now on the desk in front of me

I check and it’s full of old memory sticks  

 

as if there were two worlds to a picture

then and now

 

we are both lit

 

stumble on the mirror multiplies

 

things reflect in the table top too

 

I am intent on what?

they are intent on me

 

in each moment

there’s wherever we are

whomever

what was alive now and will be

as you, as I am

 

here we are

giving light to see

 

I like to imagine it is the discovery of the moted beam

not the creation of the universe per se

but this first knowledge – galaxies, planets

loose orbits, the field of lit floating

… and I’m off

 

you see how love is a glancing thing

 

the moment precious because it is caught

subject of infinite care

caught for this reason too

 

there’s no challenging the truth of it

 

high over the bay

veranda rickety

steps unsure

goanna along the side of the house

 

I think I remember grandma too

the Australian one

or is it I remember remembering

 

the bright of it

 

candid

as the taking

and in flagrante

but act of what?

 

remembering remembering

can’t go further than that

 

I was the unstill subject

top of the book still

wanting inside

 

everything had happened till now

everything was yet to

 

I am reaching out

we are both reaching

 

each equally casual in determination

 

there’s your work ethic

 

dad’s camera, it must have been

I can’t know which

 

things shine apart from ourselves

 

three sides to a triangle

there’s always the unseen

 

I still have the light meter

on the shelf in its leather pouch

dust! it looks like an old fashioned shaver

 

there are things can’t be made out

but I think it must be an apron mum’s wearing

 

imagine!

not so far from breakfast

not long to lunch

 

but that none of that’s immediate here

nor was anyone quite captured

we all went on for many years

 

proves

it’s every moment for itself

 

we see as through more gauze than glass

half tone, camera ready

blue for corrections

 

but there are no colours

they were there

too early to catch

 

likewise the unnamed birds of a morning

 

all of the world is waiting outside

and perhaps it’s there I’m rushing

but maybe not

 

there’s no problem to solve here

 

but the mirror sun

harbour blue, its sky

Wince-a lot, the cat

Mr Murphy – the ferry-catching dog

tales of codger Percy up the back

turned off our plumbing because he could  

 

they say it all comes flooding back

but here’s our dry destiny, edge wild

sober set  

 

and that modest wand

call it motherhood

(the accident intended

a life spread out from which)

 

much later, a dotage, in which I keep watch

but fail because of course we do

 

no one says a  word

 

there is no wishing this

terrible haircut

 

it’s only just in this moment

I see quite clearly from where I now sit

how I’m already on the way

FYI 

Here are some related pics of roughly the same era 

 

You can get a hold of the book here: 

https://puncherandwattmann.com/product/book-of-mother/

And here's a review or two:

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7832168/poetry-in-dementias-double-death/

https://shawjonathan.com/2022/06/21/kit-kelens-book-of-mother/

https://www.westwords.com.au/poets-corner-with-david-ades-featuring-christopher-kit-kelen/

And now to answer Katya's question ---- 

My motto is 

IN  THE PRESENCE OF ART, ART COMES 

That is the basis of my 'annotation mode' of poetry making I've described for you... scribble in the margins of a poem... type up the results later ...

IN THE PRESENCE OF A POEM, A POEM COMES

And why?

Because art is a conversation ... When you read you are in a conversation - a slow and deliberate conversation ... a conversation with better safeguards than a 'normal' one where everyone's in the room or on either end of a call ... art is a conversation in which you can take as much time as you need for your turn 

How not to get stuck? how not to be daunted with this ?

Firstly - remember, no one is watching you as you begin ... so turn off your inner critic for that bit and just be there, just respond 

Secondly - acknowledge that, as a human (as a creature with language, with imagination) IT IS YOUR DUTY to participate in the conversation, to contribute, to witness, (whether in word or other image) to be present to the world 

... so maybe it's not a matter of bravery, rather a matter of orientation - or in a way, it's courtesy  - someone has spoken to you --- NOW IT'S YOUR TURN TO REPLY 

Anyway, that's what I reckon!

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