Friday, June 14, 2013

POEM: "Ikaria"

Ikaria


On an island they lived longest
who took tiny breaths and waited
rising and falling in the same motion
today I can't explain that with this
so let's please start with a garden
and with the insects they named
they lived there in a simple house
ακίνητος but couldn't recognise it
lacking a certain classical education
still they came armed with bread
centenarians caring for their children
flowing from warm hives like a breeze
who looked first at the state of my clothes
and then addressed my hunger.


© 2012 Rob Schackne

2 comments:

  1. For those of you for whom time needn't qualify your curiosity, I recommend "A Study of Spiritual Motion in the Philosophy of Proclus", by the scholar
    S. E. Gersh. (According to Amazon, you can be the first to review this item. Now there's a special treat.)

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  2. (The old Greek word ακίνητος maybe doesn't mean what you think it means. Think of the hole in the doughnut -- or wu-wei, or the Zen thing when motion is related to neither subject nor object. But I'll get off my telescope now.)

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