The Self and the Mulberry
by Marvin Bell
I wanted to see the self, so I looked at the mulberry.
It had no trouble accepting its limits,
yet defining and redefining a small area
so that any shape was possible, any movement.
It stayed put, but was part of all the air.
I wanted to learn to be there and not there
like the continually changing, slightly moving
mulberry, wild cherry and particularly the willow.
Like the willow, I tried to weep without tears.
Like the cherry tree, I tried to be sturdy and productive.
Like the mulberry, I tried to keep moving.
I couldn’t cry right, couldn’t stay or go.
I kept losing parts of myself like a soft maple.
I fell ill like the elm. That was the end
of looking in nature to find a natural self.
Let nature think itself not manly enough!
Let nature wonder at the mystery of laughter.
Let nature hypothesize man’s indifference to it.
Let nature take a turn at saying what love is!
End of the poem
15 random poems
- Taita Falcon above the Zambezi by Tom Mukasa
- Robert Burns: Out Over The Forth:
- A Life Story
- minimalism_and_the_elm_choka.html
- Витамины
- Николай Гумилев – Лесной пожар
- Владимир Гиппиус – Писать стихи
- Boat Song—Hey, Ca’ Thro’ by Robert Burns
- Blood And The Moon by William Butler Yeats
- The Morning Half-Life Blues by Marge Piercy
- Robert Burns: On An Innkeeper Nicknamed “The Marquis”:
- The First Part: Sonnet 5 – How that vast heaven intitled First is roll’d, by William Drummond
- English Poetry. Richard Hovey. John Keats. Ричард Хави.
- Drinking While Driving by Raymond Carver
- The Summons poem – Ezra Pound poems
Some external links:
Duckduckgo.com – the alternative in the US
Quant.com – a search engine from France, and also an alternative, at least for Europe
Yandex – the Russian search engine (it’s probably the best search engine for image searches).