Human Distance

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nautical_tools


Human Distance 

1

Apart from edges, and into deeper darkness,
our scars crawl, remaining aloof.

2

Open windows frame the ache in motion, the
displaced notes between two wavering spaces.

3

Absent light, absent voice. What is the longitude of
grace? Consider errors and their remnants.

4

Navigators measured lunar distance and the height
of two bodies to determine Greenwich time.

5

I study the passing cloud
and its descent, noting the nature of condensation.

6

Desire: the fragmented night and its circumstance.

7

Heavenly form. The moon’s dull glow.
Acquiescence before the body’s silt.

8

Interstellar matter become dust, become
gas, become molecule.

9

Human distance registers no scale.

greenwich_meridian

44 thoughts on “Human Distance”

  7. Yes, the Human Distance is variable, for sure! I think there is a way to crawl out of that deep darkness: I’ve been heading in the general direction of time, leaving an ever-widening wake behind me… In any case, if grace is the destination, the journey is the arrival. 🙂

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  8. Pingback: Sh*t, Robert, You’ve Done it Again « buildingapoem

  10. I love your use of words Robert, some poems jar and stutter on my inner ear but yours flow. Nice. But this is one to re-read, in order for me to try and grasp.

    The object is a sculpture to enhance the meridian line. I’ve stood there many times as it’s a beautiful walk up the hill through Greenwich park with stunning views over London.

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      • Yes, looks good. I would guess it’s a sail (I see you have a seafaring past?) on a mast and ships wheel has inspired it. Greenwich was of utmost importance to mariners and there’s a museum there to the competition, with prize, for the first person to solve the problem of establishing longitude.

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      • I imagined it as some sort of navigation tool, perhaps an odd sextant. I was in the U.S. Navy for a short while, and many years ago took a course in navigation, which I would find even more fascinating today.

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  13. 4! Felt inspired to try a couple of my own. They might sound gibberish…
    —
    If two people stand light years apart, and one of them travels toward the other at the rate that their hearts depart (repel), then maybe through perversion of the time warp, the odds will be even.
    —
    I had been a stone

    .
    I had been a worm. I had been a raindrop, looking down the world.
    Not even lifetimes
    of reincarnation will take me to your abode.

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  15. Reblogged this on "Teacher, me okay!" and commented:
    If there is anything I were to complain about inspiration, it’d be that this rascal always wants to party when a workday awaits a few hours later. Drunken in half slumber, now is also one of my bravest moments as I dare to venture into something I’d never think of when I’m sober—poetry.

    A couple of my takes:

    If two people stand light years apart, and one of them travels toward the other at the rate that their hearts depart (repel), then maybe through perversion of the time warp, the odds will be even.
    —
    I had been a stone

    .
    I had been a worm. I had been a raindrop, looking down the world.
    Not even lifetimes
    of reincarnation will take me to your abode.
    —

    I wish I had the aforementioned distance when I’m on WP. I could hear the footsteps of kids marching toward this very moment. Human distance, it’s all I want when inspiration hollers.

    Onto my wish…

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