October 02, 2008
Thursday Poem
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Foolish, Not Social
Sankha Ghosh
Returning home do you feel you talked too much?
Cleverness, do you feel very tired?
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Do you feel like sitting quiet in the blue cottage
Burning incense, after a bath, on return?
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Do you feel like wearing a human body at last
After taking off the demon's dress?
.........................................
Liquid time carries moisture into the room.
Do you feel like an ananta-shayana on her floating raft?
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If you feel like that, come back. Cleverness, go away.
Does it really matter?
Let them say foolish, let them say unsocial.
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Posted by Jim Culleny at 07:49 AM | Permalink
Comments
Thank you. I feel like this was written for me--for all the dinner party "conversations" over the last eight years.
Posted by: maniza | Oct 2, 2008 11:01:58 AM
"Cleverness, go away.
Does it really matter?
Let them say foolish, let them say unsocial"
Sarah Palin
Posted by: Jared | Oct 2, 2008 1:52:57 PM
Reminds me of one by Naomi Shihab Nye I keep as a talisman:
The Art of Disappearing
When they say Don't I know you? say no.
When they invite you to the party
remember what parties are like
before answering.
Someone telling you in a loud voice
they once wrote a poem.
Greasy sausage balls on a paper plate.
Then reply.
If they say we should get together.
say why? It's not that you don't love them any more.
You're trying to remember something
too important to forget.
Trees.
The monastery bell at twilight.
Tell them you have a new project.
It will never be finished. When someone recognizes you in a grocery store
nod briefly and become a cabbage.
When someone you haven't seen in ten years
appears at the door,
don't start singing him all your new songs.
You will never catch up.
Walk around feeling like a leaf. Know you could tumble any second. Then decide what to do with your time.
Posted by: Zara | Oct 2, 2008 4:39:03 PM
Sorry about the line breaks that got eaten alive in the comments field.
Posted by: zara | Oct 2, 2008 4:40:52 PM
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