A. R. Ammons - Poetics
Ivan M. Granger March 25th, 2009
Poetics
by A. R. Ammons
I look for the way
things will turn
out spiraling from a center,
the shape
things will take to come forth in
so that the birch tree white
touched black at branches
will stand out
wind-glittering
totally its apparent self:
I look for the forms
things want to come as
from what black wells of possibility,
how a thing will
unfold:
not the shape on paper — though
that, too — but the
uninterfering means on paper:
not so much looking for the shape
as being available
to any shape that may be
summoning itself
through me
from the self not mine but ours.
— from Collected Poems: 1951 - 1971, by A. R. Ammons
/ Photo by Randy Son Of Robert /
This poem is a delightful meditation on how form emerges “spiraling from a center” of essential nature.
I look for the forms
things want to come as
from what black wells of possibility,
how a thing will
unfold:
Form is the expression of a more subtle foundation. Ammons is using the world of color and shape as an exercise for the awareness, a way of looking at the outer to discover the inner.
Looking at the world this way, a stillness settles on us, and we begin to see the stillness of things, even in their movement. And we start to recognize how shape and color both hide and reveal the true nature of things.
so that the birch tree white
touched black at branches
will stand out
wind-glittering
totally its apparent self:
Looking at the world this way, the perceptual wall between ourselves and what we witness fades away, and we become something new, bigger, open, a collective unity, “the self not mine but ours”…
not so much looking for the shape
as being available
to any shape that may be
summoning itself
through me
from the self not mine but ours.
Wonderful!
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A. R. Ammons
US (1926 - 2001) Timeline |
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What is the shape of Love?
Much Love
Jim Atwell
“To be available to any shape that may be summoning
itself through me”, truly those are the magical words
that Ammons is sharing with us for understanding. To
understand that there’s a collective Self (captital S)
that is ours within everything we behold. The Spirit within the birch tree is there for me to hear its silent call to behold it in wonder and love. Even the shape of another human being, child or adult, is there for me to hear
that person’s silent call to mercifully understand and care
IT TRULY IS LOVELY!
I am the Seasons of your Heart.
Much Love
Jim Atwell
The poetry starts living so vibrantly reading all these comments.
The poem starts evolving, beginning to take a new birth, a new LIVING shape.
Thank you Maryann, thank you Jim, and thank you Ivan, for creating this chaikhana!
(incidently, it’s with my mid morning tea, that i savor these nourishments everyday