Ghosts in the Trees

author’s note:

I want to go to Thailand…

...if only for the ghosts.


GHOSTS IN THE TREES

I’ve read:
in Thailand
ghosts live up in the trees--

a better place, I believe
than the shadowy basements
where we try to stuff our ghosts.

Ghosts actually want
to sunbathe and talk!--
when ignored they emerge
to wreck havoc
in our lives, in our world.

I speak from experience:

in fear, I tried to hide my ghosts
from myself.
But my wraiths retaliated.
Working unseen
they kept trying to wreck me.
Finally I became more afraid
of what they might do
if I didn’t let them live
in the branches and sun.

Now, as I walk in dappled shadows
around the tree
I listen and learn from ghost stories.
I still fear the powerful grief
but bolster my strength by repeating
what Coach always told the team:
no pain, no gain.

Over time, many of my shades have faded
in sunlight
but I know they’ll never disappear completely:
my history will always be my history
just as our history
will always be with us
even when stuffed in the basement.

If we don’t let those ghosts live
up in the trees
we’ll still feel their pain
while losing the opportunity
for a higher education.

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© 2022, Michael R. Patton

Introduction to "The History of Conflict"

author’s note:

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing
there is a field. I’ll met your there.
         -- Rumi (trans. Barks/Moyne)

INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF CONFLICT


For this book, we interviewed
both a dog and a cat at length.

But we spoke to each separately
to avoid arguments between the two:
we didn’t want to add yet another tragedy
to a tome filled with tragedies.

However
the publisher asked
that the dog and cat
be photographed together
for purposes of promotion.

We feared the worst.
But instead the moment revealed the best:

as dog faced cat and cat faced dog
each saw the sadness in the other’s eyes--
saw how the other also felt
a burden of pain made heavy by
centuries--centuries--
of dog and cat fights.

Whenever I feel the need
to bolster my hope for the future
I recall that scene
of shared grief.

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Butterfly Soul: poetry ebook
© 2022, Michael R. Patton

Poem for a Mirror

author’s note:

Opening the eyes is a lifetime job.


POEM FOR A MIRROR

Looking back
I can see how I’ve repeated
the sorry history of the human race:
I can see

how I have been a slave to fear.

As have you.
But

I can see how you struggle
to untangle those chains.

Though you often seem stuck
you never lose your ferocity--
you obey your higher will.

Sometimes I see
how you mirror me
and then I realize
my own strength:

we want to do more
than merely survive.

At such times, I may also see
how our true desire
mirrors the true desire
of the whole human race

and then I feel hope
for our flawed species.

Common Courage: poetry ebook
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© 2022, Michael R. Patton

Worm World Wisdom

author’s note:

“I am a part of all that I have met.”
             --  Alfred Lord Tennyson

“I learn by going where I have to go.”
               --  Theodore Roethke


WORM WORLD WISDOM

In all our explorations...

maybe we’ll find
a planet of highly intelligent worms--

worms that seem to imbibe information
from the ground through their skin--sliding over
the earth and into the soil
would be a means of absorbing
not only facts, but also knowledge
--which, through the progressive digestion
             of deep rumination,
             would eventually produce wisdom--yes,
crawling could be a means of
cracking consciousness open.

They learn in this way because,
after all, what is their experience
of life if not soil--?--if not earth--?--
thus, the ground beneath their skin
is their education,
their means of learning
while on that distant loamy world.

And so, I guess, the worms
would never want to pause
for even a moment

--you think?--

but no, I suppose
some would feel overwhelmed
and choose to go slow.

Maybe they would even end
their education
by stalling--stopping.

No--wouldn’t that be impossible?:
no matter what the worm did,
it would have to learn something--

after all, a worm can never
completely stop--it must attend
to basic needs–and so
          even to eat, to procreate, to find shelter
would bring growth

--even if
a worm only passed
through this life
for one heartbeat
that worm would gain
something.

However,
wouldn’t you need a life
after life
in order not to waste
all you had acquired?

But even if dust just returns to dust
your dust would go back
to that same place
from whence your knowledge came--

so all future generations
could absorb some of what
you picked up, some of what
you digested
in your own attempt
at understanding.

Every motion you ever made
--even a breath breathed
   while you were
   standing still--
would add its modicum
of push
to the future momentum
of that world.

However, I believe
you’d have an even bigger impact...

Why should your advances
be confined to a single planet--?--
--are we not one?--
--do we not share the wealth?--
I believe
some humongous
universal bank of intelligence
exists somewhere
for your deposit
of worm knowledge.

If so,
does worm wisdom combine
in that bank with our own
human learning?--

If so,
then what is true
for worm
would also be true
for a poet.

Yes, that must be the reality;
because I have gained so much
from all my crawling,
from all my slogging,
from all my stalling,
from all my delving,
from all my...

...my oh my--

from just being born.

© 2009, Michael R. Patton
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