Nocturne with a Line from Porchia
Everything is nothing, but afterwards.
I rise and the moon disturbs the darkness,
revealing symbols, a few stolen words
on the bureau. Tomorrow I’ll express
my gratitude by disappearing be-
fore I’m found, which is to say goodbye
before hello, a paradigm for the
prepossessed. Compton tells us to imply
what’s missing, like Van Gogh or Bill Monroe,
but why listen to the dead before they’ve
stopped speaking? Unfortunately we throw
out the bad with the good, only to save
the worst. I return to bed, and the floor
spins. Nothing is everything, but before.
This first appeared in The Blue Hour Magazine in December 2014, and is also included in my chapbook, If Your Matter Could Reform. The line “Everything is nothing, but afterwards” comes from Antonio Porchia’s Voices, translated by W.S. Merwin. Porchia wrote one book in his lifetime, but what a book it was! Often described as a collection of aphorisms, Voices is so much more – each time I open the book, I find new meaning in old lines.
O at the Edges 
This work gives me vertigo, but in a good way. 🙂
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As long as there was no nausea!
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Ban Gogh and Bill Monroe. Clever!
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The combination didn’t originate with me. I attended a mandolin workshop,a dozen or so years ago, led by bluegrass great Mike Compton. He pointed out parallels in how much in music and art relies on implication – how a wavy line could represent a crow in Van Gogh’s art, and how Monroe could imply a minor chord without playing an actual minor, because the listener expected it. Fascinating stuff.
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That is way cool.
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Just realized I misspelled Van. Ban was his younger, more misunderstood brother.
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Ah, yes, the infamous stick figure artist!
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My muse.
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How wonderful it was to eavesdrop on that little tete a tete! 💖
In this case, afterwards was everything! 😀
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It was a case of turning my lemon into lemonade, or my Ban into Van’s bro.
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It often is!
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Went straight to the library to check out Voices – their only copy doesn’t circulate so I guess I’ll be acquiring a copy. Sounds like it’ll be worth it!
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It’s readily available on Abebooks.com. Amazing, perplexing yet insightful writing. I return to it frequently.
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Wonderful words Robert, and thank you for introducing me to “Voices”, I shall read soon. I’m such an unlearned plumber/poet
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Thanks, Ivor. I don’t have a background in literature, so I’m always trying to catch up, to fill in those holes. I don’t believe I’ll ever complete the task, but it’s fun to try!
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Also now waiting for my copy of “voices” to arrive… there’s a great unease to this piece, like a chord progression might not resolve after all
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But then it does, and beautifully!
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And thank you, C.
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I think the sonnet form enhances that feeling in this piece.
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Brilliant Robert! Indeed, “why listen to the dead before they’ve
stopped speaking?” – and which way is up anyway?!!
Going to have to read this one again…and again…and again…
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Thanks, Rob. Porchia does that to you. 🙂
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