Immanence
Immanence
by eileen myles
All the doors in my home are open.
There’s a pulse outside I want to hear.
The phone’s unplugged.
The pastiche of you on me would be unforgivable now.
If there’s a god squirming around
she sees me & is me.
I wish the birds were souls, invisible.
I wish they were what I think they are; pure sound.
“Immanence, derived from the Latin in manere – “to remain within” – refers to philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence, which hold that some divine being or essence manifests in and through all aspects of the material world. It is usually applied in monotheistic, pantheistic, or panentheistic faiths to suggest that the spiritual world permeates the non-spiritual, and often contrasts the idea of transcendence.” …hmm.
“A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre that is a “hodge-podge” or an imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.” …mmm.
Poem has a zen quality to it and i think the author does yearn for transcendence and to be inside herself looking outwardly. From the get-go, with the doors wide open (all of them), we can tell the poet is receptive and/or unleasing her cup of water so it may be filled. It’s a very ‘eyes closed–deep breaths’ moment and it is conveyed via poem masterfully! thx for sharing!
Busy Signals (response poem)
my eyes flutter open
urgent pecking at yours
atwitter in triangulation
to place where your eyes
have fallen
these sociable pirate birds
perch upon my shoulders
whisper to me what they’ve seen
‘we share the air we breathe
and nothing else’, they repeat
as if their ears are ringing,
sentenced to deafness,
caged with the last song
they ever sang
echoing off the bars
I wish their mouths could close
They talk in their sleep
until I dream
that what they say is true,
Your eyes are stuck on god
and you see right through me
like I am not even here
This one and the prior two are softly touching a common theme. I think that was subliminally done. I like this as much as I like the previous posting. Also, this is an actual photo of Eileen. Wish more folks would send in interesting photos of themselves with the poem.
Understated and beautiful.
i love this!