WHEN WORDS ARE DONE

                                                                                     the world
                                                  lives in the death of speech
                                                  and sings there.
                                                       – Wendell Berry (“The Silence”)

We name landmarks on maps in our minds
so we can go there. Some to detail feeling
with art reaching-out to all humanity
searching for that common hearthstone

beyond man’s hackneyed adjectives
and political objectives. We press names
into place with indelible ink hoping
to get lost in the map’s open space

to touch the unnamable and soar
with the song. Those elusive, musical
fragments, those glimpses in trees, but
all we have when words are done.

8 responses to “WHEN WORDS ARE DONE”

wishingwellsc | November 26, 2014 at 6:17 am | Reply

One of your best ever.
LOVE this.
xoox

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- John | November 26, 2014 at 6:45 am | Reply
  
  Thanks, Kiddo 🙂 Wishing you and all of your tribe a Happy Thanksgiving.
  
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Richard | November 26, 2014 at 7:21 am | Reply

Great work! Like a painting each observer is left with an impression on individual levels.

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- John | November 26, 2014 at 9:04 am | Reply
  
  Thanks, Richard.
  
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menomama3 | November 26, 2014 at 8:19 am | Reply

Yes, I’d like “to get lost in the map’s open space”.

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- John | November 26, 2014 at 9:03 am | Reply
  
  Judging, Suzanne, by what I’ve read of what you’ve written, you work in that direction 🙂 a compliment, I must say. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.
  
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Jane Thorne | November 27, 2014 at 12:30 am | Reply

You have magic map ink John. Happy Thanksgiving for you and your loved ones. x

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- John | November 27, 2014 at 4:43 am | Reply
  
  Thanks, Jane 🙂
  
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