Palinode (salt, mask, descent)
Tracing the map to the swaying places, she rises
through the interior world, garnering peace by
syllable. Water, clouds and sand mark her ascent.
The expectation is return, renewal. My friend did not
awaken this morning, and tonight I praise her
passage with drink and song. Matter into spirit,
mountain into sky, redemption, freedom. We bathe in
light, reclaiming the liminal. Our tears evaporate,
leaving salt and untrod paths in our wake.
The paths in our wake delimit the future, but
everything falls. Which do we desire more, the grasp
or its release? That instant preceding fear defines a
yearning particular to its course, a cycle of regression
and progress: ancestors descend into human or
animal form, die, depart to the heavens, and return
anew. Distilled power, a bridge to the spirits, the
mask unshutters and conceals the conscious mind.
Opening my eyes, I release the sun.
I release the sun and observe the results. From sky
to soil, from above to below, to solidity. Spirit
acquires matter, disperses and regroups. Rain and
alluvion, flooded homes, the dark night of childish
laughter. Each to her own path, each to an end. Muting
the string, I touch the harmonic into the world, linking
civility to proportion, lowering dissonance. Everything
falls. Everything. From curve to angle, we resist and
rejoice. In this design parabola, she descends.
* * *
“Palinode (salt, mask, descent)” was first published in Otoliths in slightly different form, and is included in my chapbook, I Have a Bird to Whistle (7 Palinodes).
O at the Edges 
This cuts to the quick. And to be denied even the gathering together to remember, the raising of glasses in song… (k )
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Though it was written nearly seven years ago, this piece seems appropriate to the present circumstances. I will raise a glass to Mary Jo when I’m able!
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We will have a massive amount of mourning to do…
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I am well practiced in mourning. Alas.
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We’ve all had too much practice lately.
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“Everything falls.” That would include both expectations and intense yearnings. That would include trust in our government (the entire system, as well as individual politicians). That would include thinking we know who we really are, why we are here, what we ought do next. Might’s well relax and watch with curiosity as new patterns rise … to also fall.
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It is as you say, Jazz. I’m glad to be here, still able to watch with curiosity.
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Well, I guess you proved that you can use math to place a shape on passing.
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A little math doesn’t hurt, but I shudder to think what calculus could do. 🙂
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We’d have to set limits to make it solvable. Ha!
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I see no other option!
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