QUICKENING

I’ve been a sentient tree

for most of my life. And

it’s that time of year, you know.

I wake up, and everything except

me is covered with leaves.

My leaves.

The ones I grew.

Each a thought

of something else

I need to do,

a place I want to go,

beauty to find...

love to give...

and get.

The sky is a grayer, 

the wheel turns,

the constellations move.

The longer time spins,

the faster it goes;

the days shorten, the decades too,

all of them on their backs,

they tumble in a chill breeze

to anonymous decomposition 

in the tangled underbrush.

Sartre, Eliot, Picasso, just

so much detritus left to rot

in a place I have always been.

Wait! Wait just a minute...

There I am!

No... It’s just my likeness,

and when I turn away,

that guy reflected in the lake

is on his own.

Reviews

[Kate AKS]

"leaves... Each a thought
of something else
I need to do"

I liked the idea of leaves as fallen memories of plans and aims. It could be the subconscious reason why we like to walk on fallen leaves, listening how they are cracking under our shoes. We wondering in hope to finding what we wanted and from a pile of ashes create to do list of hopes.

[Vol]

Kate,
Thanks for your response. The concept of time and how it relates to us as we pass through it. Is there really anything more than our internal thoughts, emotions, and ideas... maybe our genes that have any real or lasting effect, much less meaning.
I'm not really a nihilist. but my brain sometimes is...
Vol

[Poetic Beauty]

Life changes and goes quickly much too quickly sometimes. We ponder and wonder about things we want to do and where we want to go. We look at our reflection contemplating many things

[Vol]

PB,
I often think about humans wandering through time as though anything we think about has any validity at all. I mean there are the practical things, like soap and toilet paper, and things to carry water and supplies as really good things and I'm glad of them, but what good has philosophy done? I love to think about what they've written, but of what practical use? Art is the same thing. It looks nice, adds a little beauty, but beauty is already everywhere. It's just that we make so much of it all, but if you ask anyone about Picasso or Vermeer, all they know is the monetary value, and, guaranteed, no one knows the difference between Aristotle and Plato so what's the big deal? The reality of skin on skin, the smell of musk, the sound of sweet moans is life entire, everything els is just trying to get there...
Vol

[Poetic Beauty]

Ahh art and philosophy is or was someone’s else’s passion the created great pleasure for them. That is your answer my dear friend Vol. it may not have a practical purpose for use but for them it gives great satisfaction and pleasure to write draw so on or think deeply on matters that maybe have no purpose for us.

For me sensual passion as you well know is ingrained in me. It is bliss and transporting all encompassing and allows me to feel that deep intimate connection to someone I am attracted to and/or love. It helps me have that deeper soul connection.

So I understand your statement above but for some the way I feel about sensual passion and the art of sex is how others feel about art and philosophy

[Vol]

PB,
I know, right? The human experience as we understand it is purely from our Western point of view. And Western Civilization has at it's core a need for there to be "sin." And just look what that has done for us... I doubt Freud would have had anything to talk about.
(I'll message you with further comment.)
Vol

[Thomas W Case]

Tremendous work. You make this come alive. Very well crafted.

[Lorry]

This reminded me of the mirror men statues of Loch Earn (see my new avatar and you'll see why) which look stunning when you finally get close enough to see it isn't a family just idly chilling of a day, which you thought may well be frozen in place to the spot.
I can picture some worse for wear through inebriation of some kind looking for a flotation ring yo through them, right up to the point they see their own reflections bounce off them and a "what the funk???" escaping their lips, as they do that old black and white movie double take, before swearing off drink for life! ☺
When they first appeared, the mirror men statues caused outrage, because it was a family with kids and it freaked real kids out, thinking the mirror kids where drowning!
Now thankfully they are all full sized growed ups and back in place after bring removed for a while (maybe they threatened strike action if they didn't get to sit in front of a fire during winter)
And yes, I agree with the leaves too and ma nature should have a word with the wind, or at least buy it a rake to sweep up the leaves! ☺

[Vol]

Lorry,
I looked up your mirror man... fascinating idea. Better than the giant rooster or T-Rex made from old car parts out here in Texas...
I'm reminded that I am old, have leafed out 74 times with no thought that in the near distance, I'll shed my leaves for the last time, and long before I want to give up the practice...
Vol

[Lorry]

Yep, I know that feeling Vol.
We are currently at the point where winter is almost forgotten and spring is in the air. It is confusing here in Scotland, due to the fact we can have 17 seasons in a day, no matter what season it actually is.
There is only one clothing rule in Scotland and that us never wear anything light enough, even in summer because it could turn see through at the drop of a clouds contents any minute!
It wouldn't be the first time I've seen a person dressed for summer, with shades and shorts on wonder as he wanders miserably through a trail of snow, hating his decision and tourist mistake in believing the weather reporters, who are all paid for nothing guessers at best.
Okay, you saw through my fib and yes, I've been that soldier on many an occasion!
I've also seen some of those statues you speak of in documentaries, like the big donut guy and even dinosaurs in the california, where some bright spark built a crazy golf course in the desert with life sized dinosaurs being the main attraction.
Sadly it never opened and looks a bit weathered these days, but I love those quirks I'm people.
Did you know there is a museum of barbed wire in the states? I forget where, but it sounds as exciting as the museum if watching paint dry! ☺

[Vol]

Hahahaha...
Amazing serendipity... my best friend in Hogh School wa Joe Glidden whose great grandfather was Joseph Glidden, the inventor of barbed wire, AND "The Devil's Rope Museum" is right down the road from me...
Weather here is more accurately predictable here than anywhere I've ever lived. It is HOT every day in the summer, and cold most days in the winter... but it can be 75 degrees at 6 pm on December 24th then 2 degrees and snow by morning. They tend to be pretty good at letting us know in advance...
Vol

[Lorry]

Ah, the barriers in speech of sharing a common language.
You say serendipity but us lot pronounce it..."spooky biscuits!" ☺
That was quite impressive though! 😏

[Vol]

Spooky biscuits... Or as known over here COOKIES... Oreos, and Fig Newtons. Biscuits are a hot bread, not sweet at all, but buttered to eat with eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, and at the end with jam.

[Lorry]

I know Vol. I got them in a diner along with hash browns, for breakfast!!! & !
Why can't you guys eat normal things for breakfast like Black pudding... on second thoughts, maybe both cultures are a little weird! ☺
I was told by the waitress I could have ordered grits too, which flummoxed me until I realised she wasn't talking about the stuff we spray our roads with in winter to prevent ice, despite the fact they look exactly how I think road grit would taste! ☺
But where would we be without our differences? Probably Russia no doubt! ☺

[Vol]

Lorry,
Grits are delicious with butter, and even better when made with yellow corn.. and at least as appetizing as pork and beans next to a fried egg... It IS funny, isn't it how different our similarities seem to be... Someone over here once wrote a book "Real Men Don't Eat Quiche." A long list of what "real Men don't do... "Quiche eaters aim for the bowl, Real me don't care about the splash."

[Lorry]

Agreed. Even in these woke days I think anyone would agree with that. I'm not saying it's gay, heaven forbid, but it does kinda give the impression it should be served on a lace Doillie to the sound of beating techno by someone on rollerskates and a tutu! ☺
And no, I'm not worried about being cancelled. What they gonna do, revoke my blockbuster card? ☺

[Vol]

Hahaha! Lorry I hear hints in the news and from others on line, as well as see comments on here where people seem to be overly circumspect in the UK that seem far too concerned with the feelings of minorities and aliens than for the citizens themselves. Everybody talks about protecting Democracy but forget that Democracy is defined as rule by the majority.
Vol

[Lorry]

Then we're screwed because by now we are infested by snowflakes demanding everything they don't like be banned immediately. Some of them even mistake it for having a personality! ☺

[Vol]

Hahahaha! Christian, Atheist, Hindu or Buddhist... THE END TIMES ARE HERE, and I agree with Eliot,read moreHahahaha! Christian, Atheist, Hindu or Buddhist... THE END TIMES ARE HERE, and I agree with Eliot,

"this is the way the world ends,
this is the way the world ends,
not with a bang but a whimper."

[Lorry]

Like an asthmatic cat farting, we will all just disappear up our own self importance, never to be thought of again until another poor universe pops into existence from nowhere and is instantly drowned in all the plastic and other crap we once thought so important.
I'm sure it will hit them hard....especially if all those plant pots still have the remnants of earth still inside them! ☺