The fact of the matter is that there’s
no fact and no matter
Waves of light across corrugated panes of space
each scallop of which cups rainbows and
other dazzling prismatic distractions
such as wars poverty venality office furniture
romance gone sour romance rekindled
all the various snake-holes and zigzag
courses we travel to go from A to B
never forgetting if we’re lucky the purpose of this
extended quest for the meaningful glance of
each moment of it that tells us
who we are as crystal facets which by their
reflective luster show us our ephemerality
and His Absolute Light
Mountains of cities have come before us
and mountains of cities will come after us
each somehow operating under the delusion of
self-propulsion and each to each contributing
to that mutual shadow-show
When giant bridges in the Unseen are constantly
swinging into place
and depositing us where we need to be
in a lovely dome covered with flowers
in gardens of various winding ways
though what we may see with our sensual eyes is
obstructive girders and iron walls and even the
starry placards of open space itself
Heartbeat by heartbeat proclaim to us our
limitations and our escape
But no step without its echo preceding it
leads us in no direction that as it
takes place in real time has not been
pre-ordained
taking me to you and you to the
roaring lion-filled jungles of night
where a certain dance takes place among
atoms in their combinations and re-
combinations that looks like the fact and matter of
this world but is really a screen for the
next
Oh glorious ones in our vulnerable pulses
each life on earth as precious as
Paradise
each one a torch for another
and the doorway wide enough for all!
_________________________________________
3/13/07 (from Invention of the Wheel)
Please click on title below to hear an audio reading of the poem
FACT OF THE MATTER
