Gallery of Light and Letters

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Chapter 10: Sheer Presence & Sense and Softness


Sense & Softness

If at times the task
(embrace the envelope,
the pirouette of smoke
and gesture) seems
to decorate the means
of crafting answers, more
than answering what
you actually asked—

if at times the veil
conceals the language
you expected (dancing
on that rail between
gravity and dream)—
if you let the statuary
stretch, allow the light
a long exhale—

how could you shape
another nuance equal
to this arc? And why
deny the way that balance
wants to speak?

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Chapter 9: Sheer Presence & Parting the Veil

Ali Scattergood, Sheer Presence, 2011

Parting the Veil


Caught
in a cleft
between one blank
space
and the next
bereft
of light or shadow

what can
we mean by pure
when the cusp
is an intake
of breath
is diastole
waiting
for systole
is greater than
the sum of gains
or losses
on each side

it’s how you
dance across
that opening
(the pause
before
the decision
says it all)