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Today (2)

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today i will...

today i will give my desire for
permanence the day off
and sit in a chapel
made of twigs and spit
today i will give my desire for
certainty the day off
and dwell in the place
of not-knowing
today i will give my desire for
security the day off,
open the windows and 
let in the breath of fresh air

                                                              Stacy Stall Wills


Probably a little more serious than the poems in the previous post on Today (Today - 1). But there is a similarity. 

In all of them there is a certain child-like quality, a letting go of the rules, a sense of adventure and an implicit critique of those elements that we deem part or even essential for a good, stable life. We detect a longing to be free from all the trappings we’ve got ourselves into. There is much wisdom in the expression: “The only difference between a groove and a grave is its depth.” These poems want to act as instruments to let us slip out of the groove. “Today I am going to dare. I am going to act different from the norm, the way things ought to be done. I am going to live.” 

In all of them the focus is on the present. We witness little today-islands of resistance in an existence that stretches way back and reaches far into the future. 

It actually says “What if..?” What if I get up every morning and put the words of the Today-poems into practice? What if all my days are todays? After all, that’s what all my days are as I live them.


George




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  1. Elmi8 August 2014 at 08:20

    Last night we had supper. We hugged goodnight. Today he moved his mobile home to the smallholding. Before sunrise he was uprooted. By noon he will be firmly grounded again.

    today he desires simplicity
    calendars with pick-a-day's
    forming part of the sun and the rays
    treading a path in unfamiliar ways

    ReplyDelete
  2. Matilda and George9 August 2014 at 20:06

    His gentle spirit will be guided and will find, Elmi.

    ReplyDelete

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