Looking in Words

Inspired by the writings of Ramana Maharshi, Paul Brunton and Robert Adams.

Looking in Words

Insistent sometimes these voices can be

A committee that will have its say

Their PA system set at full volume

Nothing to be done to adjourn them

And yet when I then turn my gaze inwards

And ask myself from whence these thoughts come

Trying to wait out the cacophony

Another question comes to the fore

Asking within Self where do these thoughts go

The committee of course doth protest

Their urgency's now has become quite loud

Another question there is to beg

Who am I that is now having these thoughts

That's the one my mind really hates

The PA deafens with screeching feed back

It's the time I really want to drink

Where to turn then for some kind of relief

When asking God provides no respite

The committee by vote decreed to laugh

And I feel like I just want to die

The sages are wrong there's nothing to ask

No meaning beyond accepting death

If all is exactly as it is made

Then my committee must have a role

I'd love to write a gentle poetry

With lilting words and flowing rhyme

But I'm descending now into self-pity

And I won't hide behind that facade

A drunk and an addict is what I do

Am I only making excuses

'Cause I'm a holy soul worthy of life

So I will keep asking the questions

Reviews

[Thomas Skahill]

Wonderful poem, I like how human interiority becomes a discourse of separate entities within you, especially ones associated with institutions, and to then reverse all that in the last stanza with the speaker reveal of non-institutional ideals is wonderful. It not only speaks to thoughts and poetry, but people and the way society is constructed.