[untitled scrap]

[untitled scrap]

commit yourself, put
something there something total
as much as it is
enveloping ——-

an ocean, a boat, a sail
full stretched with wind ——–

there is resolve and resolution
a prayer you have written
……on a piece of paper, buried
under an oak sapling ——-

a cloud, the rain, a gale
such swirling torrents this life ——

exuberance is the name
of a mountain.

2apr14

Window reflections at Noon -- Neiman Marcus, San Francisco -- August 12, 1994 -- photo by Mark Weber

Window reflections at Noon — Neiman Marcus, San Francisco — August 12, 1994 — photo by Mark Weber

15 Comments

  1. Mark Weber

    The top photo is from Three Rivers, Northern Chihuahua Desert, New Mexico — Sierra Blanca Mountains — Jornada Mogollon culture petroglyphs 900-1400 A.D. — photo by Mark Weber — February 15, 1992.

    Regarding the San Francisco photo —— wasn’t Eugene Atget the photographer who first realized the potential in window reflections? —— they’re almost too easy (I do them all the time), almost cliche, but, I like them —- always interesting juxtapositions — this shot is one of 6 or 7 I fired off from the same position

  2. Connie Crothers

    I love this exuberant poem.
    Photographs, too–beautiful.
    Atget. To me, he is like Bach–he did it all (including window reflections). No ego.

  3. jay binskirooni

    was at 3 Rivers just recently. immediately went off trail to explore and tho i know i was not the first to discover some incredible glyphs there was still the awe surprise of seeing what i saw. part of the magic is to be able to bypass the modern encroachment and imagine this place in the middle of nowhere, a place to go for vision quests, to beseech the spirits for a personal power. my question whenever i encounter these glyphs in their places– do the spirits exist? does poetry connect us to that Other place? do we actually commit ourselves, something total, to the mystery? i bow for your answers.

  4. Carol

    Thank-you Mark – will plant a prayer under a tree at next opportunity – feeling a bit battered by the winds right now! thanks for the poem.

    xo
    Carol

  5. Kirk Silsbee

    Atget? I was gonna commend you on the nice Garry Winogrand vibe, Mark. Either one works for me.
    Kirk

  6. Kenneth Keppeler

    Wonderful poem, again. Sitting on a couch in the fens of Cambridgshire after a lovely night at the Cowboy Up steak house in Waardamme, Belgium. Thought, crap, what will I eat and one of the owners, she says, “I’ll make sure you eat well, I’m a vegetarian, my husband eats enough meat for both of us.” On our way to stay with friends in Dumfries and on to Derry in Ireland. We have leaped off of the cliff to be musicians, resulting in the most common comment, “You have so much fun playing for us.” Enveloped in life.

  7. Mark Weber

    NOTE to JBinski (aka JB Bryan) : In general, that “thing” I always expect to find in poetry, I find more often in music —- that magical instance that Cecil Taylor says “where you are stopped in time” —— I’m beginning to realize that it’s important to commit oneself to truth & beauty (yes, I know those are abstractions, but . . .) commit oneself to being a good person — to actually say it outloud, if only to yourself —- and to stand up for it ——– it might sound twinkleheaded, but it’s not, if you think about it . . . .

    NOTE: Ken (above comment) & Jeanie of Bayou Seco are presently on their annual ten week tour of Scotland, Ireland, England, France, and Germany — they live on Fiddle Hill in Silver City, New Mexico.

    NOTE: Carol Sawyer, vocalist & yogini, is referring to winds in Vancouver BC — it’s also been windy here in New Mexico——-as Todd Moore used to say: “If it keeps up it’s gonna blow us off the map”

  8. Will Hanley

    Better and better, closer to the core…

  9. baatz

    wonderful poem!!!

  10. Carol Tristano

    I love your poem! The reflexions photo is captivating – those two women reflect the mannequins so beautifully – the expressions – the colors – the woman’s gate in front lends motion to the lady mannequins – just great!
    I really dig what you said in your note to JBinski.
    If there’s not a mountain named “exuberance” there should be!

  11. Daryl

    Nice toast to the walk I’m about to take.
    I’m feeling all blissed out.

  12. Carol Tristano

    Mark – you must have gotten a chuckle out of my misspelling of “gait” since you hate spell check. I looked it up after I wrote it cause it just didn’t look right – see, even spell check can’t save me!

  13. Mark Weber

    Carol——- I did scratch my head over that spelling thinking possibly you were using the old hipster jargon “from the gate” = at the beginning, the starting gate — spell check is a hindrance —- it presumes there are “correct” spellings — words are metaphors and these spellings we use are only phonetic approximations (remember Korzybski’s famous admonition: “THIS is not a table” as he slammed his fist onto a “table”)—- the sooner the words disappear and the thought forms in the mind the better —— Even so, I suppose spelling should be consider’d important, up to a point ——- myself, I don’t have the luxury of “misspelling” simply because when I do employ a variant spelling I want my reader to know it was on porpoise——-

    WHEN’s your next record coming out? Your concept for drumset is a marvel.

  14. Carol Tristano

    “the sooner the words disappear and the thought forms in the mind the better —— ”

    Hey Mark – could you elaborate? This is a bit of a brain twister. Along these lines, I’m always thinking about the importance and freedom of being able to say one’s thoughts exactly at the moment they’re forming in the mind. If I try to follow your logic here, I’m led to the conclusion that it would be helpful if we could all communicate telepathically. Being a writer/poet is an amazing thing. I love words and I suppose you make a good case for reshaping words the way a musician bends notes. Coming up with the words in the first place seems like an art form itself. There’s always room for more words. Who gets to make them up?

  15. Anna Dioro

    Mark…

    beauty, joy, and (as always, from you) INSPIRATION… your words consistently manage to strike at the most necessary times in the most necessary ways.

    -Anna

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