Poem: Soul Outpost-Cantos 5,6

Canto V: Peering over the Edge

Tantalized lifeblood flows from the Great Mystery

Shift along the shadow border

Between the known and the unknown

The heart trills like a soaring songbird

A succession of defining moments arrive

Reality tears away the fancy

Consideration gives way to acceptance

There is a surrendering to the Real

Rudely roused from the edge of sleep

The mirror reveals the journey taken

New layers formed around the eyes

The alterations – gossamer thin at first

The map of passage drawn upon our face

We survived the first barriers

These slippery shadows of reality

Are mere reflections within a house of mirrors

Dense cultural bonds alter the fabric of reality

Various societal estuaries are traversed

Schools/bookstores/restaurants/buses/supermarkets and sidewalks

Allude to endless potential interactions

In commonplace settings we meet face-to-face

Realized similarities shatter assumptions

Raining reality splinters and shards of truth

Into awakened psyches like a thought bomb

Canto VI: Potency and Potentiality

Weekly I pour the potent wine of poetry

Attempt to ensnare a few attentive students in its lyrical mesh

Poetry can convey deepest human thoughts

Or drop one into a yawning trench of bewilderment

Results are determined by individual interpretation and valuation

Metered feet dance across soul-lines and heartstrings

Lofty ideas concoct the ambrosia of self discovery

Grand voices chant illuminating incantations

Poet’s flesh and bone rendered down to essence

Sighing restless souls stir the air

Meaning strikes the awakening minds like flint to steel

And ignite sparks of inspiration and illumination

Chinese artists create a metaphysical little universe – 小 宇宙xiǎo yǔzhòu
Their ingenious artifacts discharge this little universe

Penetrate the minds of admirers and critics alike

Imaginative fragments catalyze inspiration

From my little universe beside the Grand Canal

I gaze upon an ancient transforming realm

For a time in this rapidly shifting dominion

I make my home