O at the Edges

Musings on poetry, language, perception, numbers, food, and anything else that slips through the cracks.

Still Life with Silence

Posted on October 22, 2016 by robert okaji

Still Life with Silence

Not two, but one,
invisible

and stretched between
stump and fence,

filled with
time, defining

implication. Empty
the pitcher. Accept

its limitations.
Listen to what is not.

21 thoughts on “Still Life with Silence”

danielpaulmarshall on October 22, 2016 at 7:25 am said:

Poets eh… they want to express stillness with flow a timelessness within the bounds of time a silence with words that may be uttered. a good many of us are guilty, are we not? yet it must persist to branch into the difficult to artify or else whatever would we do? drink tipples n’ say beautiful things we don’t really mean? heaven forbid.

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- robert okaji on October 22, 2016 at 7:31 am said:
  
  Yes, poets, damn them!
  
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smilecalm on October 22, 2016 at 9:55 am said:

stump & milk
pitcher make
insightful poetry 🙂

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- robert okaji on October 22, 2016 at 10:27 am said:
  
  Stumps can be quite garrulous!
  
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rivrvlogr on October 22, 2016 at 10:50 am said:

what is not
the tree before the stump
the field before the fence
the smell before the taste
the silence before the words

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- robert okaji on October 22, 2016 at 11:52 am said:
  
  This is a lovely koan, Ken.
  
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  - rivrvlogr on October 22, 2016 at 11:54 am said:
    
    Thank you for such high praise, Bob.
    
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    - robert okaji on October 22, 2016 at 12:02 pm said:
      
      Just speaking the truth, Ken.
      
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sinisterdarksoul on October 22, 2016 at 12:35 pm said:

I enjoyed the poem. ^_^

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- robert okaji on October 22, 2016 at 5:18 pm said:
  
  Thanks very much.
  
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garyhorvitz on October 22, 2016 at 2:08 pm said:

Form is emptiness……

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- robert okaji on October 22, 2016 at 5:18 pm said:
  
  But it’s not nothing.
  
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  - garyhorvitz on October 22, 2016 at 6:19 pm said:
    
    …Emptiness is also form.
    Form is no other than emptiness.
    Emptiness is no other than form.
    —Heart Sutra
    
    The pitcher and its contents are, in essence, the same. And different. And not nothing.
    😉
    
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    - robert okaji on October 22, 2016 at 6:25 pm said:
      
      A fine distinction.
      
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Pingback: Still Life with Silence — O at the Edges – Traveling with God blessings
lifecameos on October 22, 2016 at 11:38 pm said:

Really liked this !

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- robert okaji on October 23, 2016 at 8:04 am said:
  
  So glad you did. Thank you.
  
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Fritz on October 23, 2016 at 1:46 am said:

“Listen to what is not”. Masterful. Thanks!

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- robert okaji on October 23, 2016 at 8:04 am said:
  
  Thank you!
  
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  - Susanne on October 23, 2016 at 1:17 pm said:
    
    Yes, this line is absolutely Yoda-like. Actually, better than Yoda. It is wise. Like something a prophet or an oracle might say, but I suppose that’s what poets are, eh? Prophets and oracles.
    
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    - robert okaji on October 23, 2016 at 7:18 pm said:
      
      Prophets, oracles, dishwashers, mowers of lawns… 🙂
      
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21 thoughts on “Still Life with Silence”

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