Lost Poetry Found

Big Frank Dickinson in his recent trip to the town of his youth discovered some poetry that had been forgotten in the attic. These were Big Frank scribbles from his grad school days - yes, there are advanced degrees in both Mayoral Comportment and Jewel Thievery. Be that as it may, below are four artifacts.

THE PIG
While in a field collecting colors,
I saw a pig fall in a stream.
I ran for rope,
And he found grey-gold-green.


CREATIVITY
This bowl cannot be filled,
Lines fall off the page.
Like rabbits reared in cages,
Store-bought lettuce fed,
They don't so much produce as
Repeat.


WE
Though we will be
What we are not.
Still,
We will be
What we are.


PLAY
While playing as a child,
I never understood the smile
On my grandmother's face.
She was only watching.

I didn't know then
That a raindrop striking a window
Expands not to itself,
But to the beholder.

INSIDE DRAGONS' TEETH
Inside dragons' teeth they find
Intense desire,
Compacted climb.

Inside dragons' teeth they find
A weightless feeling,
Without time.

Inside dragons' teeth they find
Controlled seance,
Sheets unwound.

Inside the dragon's tooth
My mind

The Unity of Opposites - or - Symmetry Rules, But it Hurts so Good

"Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Agreed to have a battle;
For Tweedledum said Tweedledee
Had spoiled his nice new rattle.
Just then flew down a monstrous crow,
As black as a tar-barrel;
Which frightened both the heroes so,
They quite forgot their quarrel."

I think we all remember these contrary twins who battle each other out of their similarities. Alan Watts in “The Book On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are” writes that:
“. . . for thousands of years human history has been a magnificently futile conflict,a wonderfully staged panorama of triumphs and tragedies based on the resolute taboo against admitting that black goes with white. . . . As when Tweedledum and Tweedledee agreed to have a battle, the essential trick of The Game of Black and White is a most tacit conspiracy for the partners to conceal their unity, and to look as different as possible. It is like a stage fight so well acted that the audience is willing to believe that it is a real fight. Hidden beneath their explicit differences is the implicit unity of what Vedanta calls the Self, the oneness-without-a-second, the what there is and the all that there is which conceals itself in the form of you.”

This sure sounds a lot to Big Frank like WHAT IT IS.

The Chinese Zen Poet Shitou Xiqian captures this in his poem:
The Harmony of Difference and Sameness

In the light there is darkness,
but don't take it as darkness;
In the dark there is light,
but don't see it as light.
Light and dark oppose one another
like the front and back foot in walking.
Each of the myriad things has its merit,
expressed according to function and place.
Phenomena exist; box and lid fit;
principle responds; arrow points meet.
Hearing the words, understand the meaning;
don't set up standards of your own.
If you don't understand the Way right before you,
how will you know the path as you walk?
Progress is not a matter of far or near,
but if you are confused, mountains and rivers block your way.
I respectfully urge you who study the mystery,
do not pass your days and nights in vain.

Friedrich Nietzsche:

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."
— Beyond Good and Evil

Robert Frost viewed poetry itself as an expression of the unity of opposites, as perhaps best exemplified in the following poem.

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

And now we have come full circle for Big Frank points out that it is worthwhile remembering that after a somewhat longish conversation with the contrary Tweedledee and Tweedledum Alice had the following thought: "I wish the monstrous crow would come!"

To Organize or Not To Organize?

January is, Big Frank kids you not, 'Get Organized Month', so designated by none other than The National Association of Professional Organizers. Right, this is the month to get yourself organiz-ized. There are tons of books, websites, speakers, seminars, tips, and rejoinders to help you get the task done. You have to let go of all that clutter - just let it go. Go to www.messies.com, or www.organizedtimes.com, or www.shoptogetorganized.com, or www.get-organized.com, - this last site actually has a get-organized poem. It is an amazing piece of literature. Here it is:

How To Do SomethingA poem from the Zine "Oop" (Joey Harrison, Editor, JoeyHarrison@usa.net) to subscribe).

HOW TO DO SOMETHING
First, begin.
That's the first thing.
You begin and then you proceed.
Proceed is next.
Proceed for quite a while.
This is the main part:
The proceeding.
The proceeding is actually the meat of doing something.
If something gets done,
Credit the proceeding.
After awhile the proceeding gives way to the wind-up --
The finishing.
This transition is delicate.
Too soon is bad,
Too late expends needless energy.
At the very instant something is at last done,
Fade the proceeding and move directly to finishing.
Finish instantly.

There is a certain minimalist beauty here - at first glance anyway. It reads something along the lines of a Dick and Jane reader. Here's Big Frank's Dick and Jane version:

Oh See Dick Do Something

First Dick begins.
That's what Dick does first.
Dick begins and then Dick proceeds.
See Dick proceed.
Dick is still Proceeding.
Still Dick proceeds.
Dick is proceeding and proceeding.
Now Dick is not proceeding.
Dick is winding up.
Dick is asking Jane.
He wants to know if it is too soon to finish.
Jane knows too soon is bad.
Bad, bad bad to finish too soon.
Jane says too late is bad too.
Too late is bad.
Too soon is bad too.
Dick is worried.
Jane says "finish".
Dick must finish now.
Dick finishes now.

However, as we know from Niels Bohr all profound ideas have equally profound opposite ideas. And so it is with getting organized. Look at the classic organiz-ized person in Taxi Driver - Travis Bickle. His mantra was to get organiz-ized. And look where it took him - into madness and mahem. And so the recent book in praise of messiness - A Perfect Mess. It turns out that, according to the authors - David Freedman and Eric Abrahamson - there are certain benefits from letting randomness into your lives. First of all you have access to all that stuff that otherwise would be unretrievably filed/boxed/stored away - god-knows-where. Instead it's all out there in front of you, and everytime that you look for anything you get to review everything, which, of course, then reminds you of all the tasks that you should be doing and then spurs you on to do them, but in a random sort of creative manner. That's benefit number one. Yet another benefit accrues from not having to waste all that time figuring out where to put everything and then actually putting it there. What a wonderful idea. So can we make February 'Get Unorganiz-ized Month' - or in other words "Just Let It Be"?

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Big Frank Dickinson like all of you enters the new year with the resolve to be a better person and to do his best to bring improvements to the world and his relationships within it. This is, of course, following in the traditions of the ages. Some common themes for the New Year’s Resolutions include improving vitality, fitness or appearance. Those more altruistic may resolve to give more to those less fortunate, or to become more socially conscious. We all feel the need to pick up the burden of improvement in search of progress. The accent often is on doing.

There are things that your govenment would like you to do. The United States government suggests the following for the new year:

Lose Weight
Pay Off Debt
Save Money
Get a Better Job
Get Fit
Eat Right
Get a Better Education
Drink Less Alcohol
Quit Smoking
Now
Reduce Stress Overall
Reduce Stress at Work
Take a Trip
Volunteer to Help Others

Washington notwithstanding the most popular resolutions are in order of popularity:

1. Lose Weight and Get in Better Physical Shape
2. Stick to a Budget.
3. Debt Reduction
4. Enjoy More Quality Time with Family & Friends
5. Find My Soul Mate
6. Quit Smoking
7. Find a Better Job
8. Learn Something New
9. Volunteer and Help Others
10. Get Organized

So most of us will make some permutation of the above lists. It is an affirmation of your individuality – of our control of our own lives; belief that neither the stars, nor victimization, nor behavioral ruts, nor genetic predetermination, nor anything can trump our own free will and determination. There is joy in setting out secure in the strength and contentment of oneself. Walt Whitman is the supreme New Year’s poet. However, Walt has welcome news for all of us. Take the hand of your camerado - love each other - don't wish for the stars - no more complaints - no more needs - set out - the road is open. Let’s follow him:

Song of the Open Road
by Walt Whitman

1
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.

The earth, that is sufficient,
I do not want the constellations any nearer,
I know they are very well where they are,
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.

(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens,
I carry them, men and women, I carry them with me wherever I go,
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,
I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.)


15
Allons! the road is before us!
It is safe—I have tried it—my own feet have tried it well—be not detain’d!

Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and the book on the shelf unopen’d!
Let the tools remain in the workshop! let the money remain unearn’d!
Let the school stand! mind not the cry of the teacher!
Let the preacher preach in his pulpit! let the lawyer plead in the court, and the judge expound the law.

Camerado, I give you my hand!
I give you my love more precious than money,
I give you myself before preaching or law;
Will you give me yourself? will you come travel with me?
Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?