a continual return to beginnings
.
aim and shoot...
take a photograph...
capture an image...
so many traps
but holding the camera
he felt that he was the one
who had become ensnared
.
Unable to exterminate his vices,
he simply no longer had the heart to do the deed,
he wound up living among them
like an old lady surrounded by strays.
.
he kept a lamp without a light bulb
confident that one day
he would turn it on
and all would go dark
.
the gentle ruthless
.
he began to wonder if we were perhaps
naught but the ullage of being
.
memories were no longer viewed as vestiges
but rather as eruptions
.
He rubbed his eyes.
Yet what needed to be extirpated
was not any obstruction to sight,
but rather the very habit of seeing.
.
too often he feared that he had been misunderstood
others seemed prone to confusing his honesty
with kindness
.
it was simply a matter of entering
a space that one had never left
.
it was as if the tiniest of birds
fluttered at the end of each breath
.
some days no matter how far
nor how fast he travelled
he remained unmoving
.
"imagine peace"
he tried
repeatedly
but could only manage
a lull
.
obviously an apology could be proffered before or after;
but it occurred to him that the best recourse
might simply be for each word, gesture or action
to arise from an unformed yet no less acute regret.
.
he sought his cave
found it
without ever rising
from his couch
.
the most glorious light
was usually the one denied
.
pulling on his socks
it came to him that sometimes
this was all one could do
to avert disaster
.
Someone said, "What name is not diminishment?"
He couldn't help but agree. Yet as he began to recite,
one name after the other, both mentally and out loud,
he came to realize that this was rather as a door
which both framed and opened vaster spaces.
.
some thought
that certain geometries
could lead to greater perfection
he however believed
just the opposite
.
more often than not
any attempt to avoid confusing
innocence and ignorance
was futile
.
Just so you know...
all images and text © Michael Tweed
