{"id":7904,"date":"2022-01-14T07:56:46","date_gmt":"2022-01-14T14:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=7904"},"modified":"2022-01-14T07:56:46","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T14:56:46","slug":"denise-levertov-looking-walking-being","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/14\/denise-levertov-looking-walking-being\/","title":{"rendered":"Denise Levertov – Looking, Walking, Being"},"content":{"rendered":"

Looking, Walking, Being
\nby Denise Levertov<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe World is not something to
\nlook at, it is something to be in.\u201d
\n\u2014 Mark Rudman<\/i><\/p>\n

I look and look.
\nLooking\u2019s a way of being: one becomes,
\nsometimes, a pair of eyes walking.
\nWalking wherever looking takes one.<\/p>\n

The eyes
\ndig and burrow into the world.
\nThey touch
\nfanfare, howl, madrigal, clamor.
\nWorld and the past of it,
\nnot only
\nvisible present, solid and shadow
\nthat looks at one looking.<\/p>\n

And language? Rhythms
\nof echo and interruption?
\nThat\u2019s
\na way of breathing.<\/p>\n

breathing to sustain
\nlooking,
\nwalking and looking,
\nthrough the world,
\nin it.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from Poems of Denise Levertov: 1960-1967<\/a>, by Denise Levertov<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by Amizyolaroid<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

Okay, let\u2019s start off with those wonderful lines:<\/p>\n

Looking\u2019s a way of being: one becomes,
\nsometimes, a pair of eyes walking.<\/i><\/p>\n

This poem is a response to the Mark Rudman quote, \u201cThe World is not something to \/ look at, it is something to be in.\u201d Denise Levertov answers that looking IS<\/i> being.<\/p>\n

The eyes
\ndig and burrow into the world.
\nThey touch\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

I suspect that Rudman was discouraging passivity and lack of presence, but Levertov, I think, is getting at something deeper still. Humans, all beings, in fact, are fundamentally beings of awareness. Each individual is a point of perception, a viewpoint in the universe. We are, each of us, \u201ca pair of eyes walking.\u201d<\/p>\n

We are present through perception, not action. Yes, action and interaction can be a powerful way to force us to pay attention, but it is also common to use action to shut down the awareness. Whether in movement or in stillness, the real goal is to keep the eyes open and feel fully with the heart and with the gut. We want to do more than look, but to see and see deeply<\/i>. We need to see what is ignored and glossed over, to \u201cdig and burrow in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even in complete stillness, truly seeing is one of the most profound actions we can engage in. People are brought to tears by a gentle gaze in the eyes. This is what the soul craves, to be seen, to be recognized, to be truly acknowledged. This is true not just of the human soul, but of the world soul. I think of this when Denise Levertov writes of how the world \u201clooks at one looking.\u201d<\/p>\n

And language? Rhythms
\nof echo and interruption?
\nThat\u2019s
\na way of breathing.<\/i><\/p>\n

We forget that language is built of breath. We see the written word and we read it silently. Words become mental concepts, tools of the intellect. But words are not fundamentally discrete units of meaning. They flow and stop and flow again, as the breath does. Words aren\u2019t inherently meaningful; they are the ornaments that accompany the flow of awareness.<\/p>\n

Words affect breath. Thoughts affect breath. Breath guides awareness.<\/p>\n

\u2026breathing to sustain
\nlooking\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

Through the breath, we bring the outside world inside us, inside the body, inside the awareness. The boundary between self and the world is bridged by the breath. Through breath, we touch, we feel, we internalize, we connect, we participate, we come alive. Through breath we move and we see.<\/p>\n

\u2026walking and looking,
\nthrough the world,
\nin it.<\/i><\/p>\n

Vision, language, breath\u2026 communion.<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Denise Levertov<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Denise Levertov: Selected Poems<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nPoems of Denise Levertov: 1960-1967<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nBreathing the Water<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Great Unknowing: Last Poems<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nCandles in Babylon<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"Denise<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nDenise Levertov<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

US (1923 \u2013 1997) Timeline<\/a>
\nSecular or Eclectic<\/a> : Beat<\/a>
\nJewish<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

More poetry by Denise Levertov<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Looking, Walking, Being by Denise Levertov \u201cThe World is not something to look at, it is something to be in.\u201d \u2014 Mark Rudman I look and look. Looking\u2019s a way of being: one becomes, sometimes, a pair of eyes walking. Walking wherever looking takes one. The eyes dig and burrow into the world. They touch […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[525,195,65,2012,831,1458,753],"class_list":["post-7904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-breath","tag-denise-levertov","tag-perception","tag-power-of-words","tag-seeing","tag-sight","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7905,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7904\/revisions\/7905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}