Another World

author’s note:

Recently, someone asked me how I find contentment...

Not something I usually think about...but I do know that I can find it by discovering beauty in the commonplace.


ANOTHER WORLD

Sometimes I sense the presence
of another world

lurking like a monolith
--like a dark castle gate--
somewhere over my left shoulder

but when I turn to witness
I find only a blank space

nonetheless,
I can feel the absence
and so, that world
still seems real to me:

I'm tantalized--
for years I've searched
for the pass key:

so much work and yet
I remain frustrated...

except in odd quiet moments
that come to me suddenly--

in that stillness, this mundane world
is seen again, felt again, heard again

known again
but known differently--
known as strange:

even the stones seem to brim with life

or especially the stones

even old familiar doors
hold mystery

or especially those doors.

At such times,
whatever object I experience
becomes a door slowly opening:

I discover secrets everywhere.

After such times, I wonder:
did I step through the mirror?--
did I pass through the gate?

© 2015, Michael R. Patton
dream steps: the blog

Perfection

author’s note:

Dedicated to the memory of Freddie the cat--who taught me so much.


PERFECTION

I hoped
by following a housecat
I would eventually arrive at
the center of my own
perfection.

Consider those paws--
so sensitive yet so tough--
so connected
to the spinal column:

it’s a finer intelligence.

But though I learned from my cat
its innate feline wisdom remained
beautifully foreign to me.

The cat,
understanding my plight
looked up into my eyes
as if to say:
“What I have
  you have--
  see
  feel
  realize
  myself in yourself.”

I do try to
but only in rare unexpected moments
do my feet fall into place--
into the fine beam balance
of a cat walk.

Such blessed accidents
always stir me--pain me--
to want more--more!

but without leaving a clue
as to how I might return.

In my walk more typical
I muddle through the mud--
I bumble and stumble
with staggering feet.

But though I spin chaotic
I keep this gyro going--
my entangled legs create
their own crazy tango:

the drunken clown
I saw in the circus
said we may wobble
yet still display elegance.

The clown asked me,
“What is perfection?”

© 2015, Michael R. Patton
dream steps: the blog