v v-e? Ilbf Self DAVID JAFFIN Throughout his career, Charles Seliger (American, 1926—2009) pursued an inner world of organic abstraction, celebrating the structural complexities of natural forms. Inspired by a wide range ofliterature in natural history, biology, and physics, he cultivated a poetic style of abstraction that explored the dynamics oforder and chaos animating the celestial, geographical, and biological realms. Seliger paid homage to nature's infinite variety and his paintings have been described as “microscopic views ot the natural world”. Born in New York City but raised in Jersey City, Seliger never completed high school or received formal art training. In 1943, he befriended artist Jimmy Ernst and was quickly drawn into the circle of avant-garde artists championed by Howard Putzel and Peggy Guggenheim. Two years later, at the age ot nineteen, Seliger was included in the groundbreaking 67 Gallery exhibition A Problem for Critics, and had his first solo show at Guggenheim’s Art ot This Century gallery. At the time, Seliger was the youngest artist exhibiting with members of the abstract expressionist movement, and he was only twenty years old when the Museum of Modern Art acquired his painting Natural History: Form within Rock (1946). In 1950, Seliger obtained representation from Willard Gallery, forming close friendships with artists Mark Tobey, Lyonel Feininger, and Norman Lewis. By 1949, Seliger had his first major museum exhibition at the de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco. During his lifetime, his art was celebrated in over forty-five solo shows at prominent galleries in New York and Europe, in 1986, Seliger was given his first retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, which now holds the largest collection of his work. His work is also represented in numerous public institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. In 2003, Seliger received the Pollock-Krasner Foundation’s Lee Krasner Award in recognition of his long and illustrious career in the arts. In 2005, the Morgan Library and Museum acquired his journals - 148 hand-written volumes produced between 1952 to 2009. In 2012, the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina organized the traveling exhibition Seeing the World Within: Charles Seliger in the 1940s. The Other Side of Self DAVID JAFFIN First published in the United Kingdom in 2012 by Shearsman Books 50 Westons Hill Drive Emersons Green Bristol BS16 7DF Shearsman Books Ltd Registered Office 30-31 St. James Place, Mangotsfield, Bristol BS16 9JB (this address not for correspondence) www.shearsman.com ISBN 978-1-84861-287-7 Distributed for Shearsman Books in the U. S. A. by Small Press Distribution, 1341 Seventh Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94710 E-Mail orders@spdbooks.org www. spdbooks. org Copyright © David Jalfin, 2013. The right of David Jaffin to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act of 1988. All rights reserved. Production, composition & cover design: Edition Wortschatz, an imprint of Neufeld Verlag, Schwarzenfeld/Germany E-Mail info@edition-wortschatz.de Title picture: Charles Seliger (1926-2009) Wind Blown (detail), 1958 oil on canvas 16" x 22", signed and dated Courtesy of Michael Rosenfield Gallery, LLC, New' York, NY www.michaelrosenfeldart.com Printed in Germany Contents Prepared? 19 Only one 19 Birth-pained 20 Flat-earth 20 Even in Giorgione 21 And sudden 21 Snow-dream (7) 22 a) Ever 22 b) Flash 22 c) What 23 d) Two sides 23 e) Chemistry 24 f) f:irst impressions 24 g) Squirrelled 25 Helmut 25 For Rosemarie 1 26 He was the 26 Future 27 Helmut's end 27 For Rosemarie II 28 Humanism (Luther’s relics) 28 TrakT 29 Death’ 29 Leaf 30 Autumn 30 At the cemetery 31 “Major poem 31 Oft have I 32 The Creed 32 INRI 32 For Lot and 33 "To thine own 34 “Serving two masters” (Mozart/Goldoni) 35 Walking 35 Chandelier’ (for H. B.) 36 Chopin (Concerto 1, slow mvt.) 36 Donatello 36 Is 37 Donatello 37 He wrote 38 Self-control 38 Escape routes 38 Flower 39 Sick-time 39 If you look 40 Madonna of the Clouds (Donatello)40 Aphorisms (12) 40 a) Ourenemie 40 b) Time took 4 1 c) In autumn 41 d) The frog 41 e) For Rosemarie 42 f) I am not 42 g) Those who 42 h) The church- 43 i) “Painter 43 j) Really-seen 44 k) She put on 44 l) Noah's ark 45 This morn 45 Dream 46 If Goethe 46 Sin’ 47 Even gold 47 These trees 47 These knots 48 Bach 2nd Violin Concerto (slow mvt.) 48 That sound 48 Date-time 49 Consistency (for Warren) 49 Classically defying 50 The fogs 50 Why I pre 51 The light-con 51 Thomas Bernard’s 52 Dream 52 Are dream 53 After-phrasings 53 “Make-believe” 53 Taste 54 Foot-prints 54 For Rosemarie 55 Robert 56 “It-had-to-be” 56 At 74 57 When the 57 Used 58 Romanze (Karl Stamitz, 2nd Cello Concerto) 58 Marriage Portrait (Van Eyck) 59 Matthias (for Thomas) 59 The ink 60 2M>I Commandment (Moses) 60 The slow 61 Trouble 62 And even 62 When the 63 They said 64 That self-re 64 Half-half 65 “Right to the point" 65 At the heart 66 The inner 66 Scholar 67 The word 67 Out-timed 68 He knew 68 For the need 69 Quick m 69 That penetrat 70 Dementia 70 Hommage a Eichendorft 71 A vacant room 71 Do leave 72 The glory of English -]-> Proud 73 Funeral 73 Autumn 74 Secluded 75 “New lands" 75 “On the brink" 76 If life" 76 Each word" 77 A letter 77 “The best" 78 Clarinet Concerto (Mozart, slow mvt.) 78 Te Deum (Haydn) 79 Abusing history 79 Can music 80 Commemora 80 Nonsense 81 The real 81 After 30 82 The feel of things 82 Early 1945 83 Bigger-better 84 Mystery-man 84 After Cezanne 85 Leaving the 86 Sitting 86 Falling as 87 A medieval 87 Make-up 88 Matthias Claudius" (tor Thomas) 88 The soft 89 Swan's song 89 Chopin ‘>0 For Rosemarie 90 These late 91 Woman 1940 (de Kooning) 91 Copied 91 Lesser-self 92 They turn 92 Autumn 93 One word a 93 Satisfied 94 Why do some 94 Berries 95 Harvesting (2) 95 a) Hot-blood 93 b) The List 96 For Rosemarie 96 Questioning Schmtzler 97 Zelenka" 97 Upended 98 Escape-routes 98 The magic of words 99 What seem 99 He lost 100 Utrecht Te Deum (Handel) 100 When foot 100 Erntedankfest (Thanksgiving) 101 The Great 101 Dried-out 102 Handel" 102 When Handel 103 “The law" 103 Sun-instinct 104 The river 104 Handel 104 At 74 105 To be old 1 < )5 Some succeed 106 Handel 106 Getting a 107 Only-now 107 October 108 Handel and 108 Butter 109 Remembering (3) 109 a) Writing it 109 b) 11 one no 110 c) One-way starts 110 Shaded en 111 For Rosemarie 111 Mendels 112 At the end 112 It's only 113 Mendels 113 Should a 114 This room 114 Does the 115 3r,t Quartet (Shostakovich) 115 Op 18,6 Quartet (Beethoven ) 116 Weather 116 A la Schnitzler (2) 117 a) Flower-calls 117 h) Those bee’ 111 The Sandras 118 By chance? (AnsweringJ. B. Bury) 118 Time-being 119 Those hidd 119 1 )isguised 120 Aloned 120 Dark room 121 Bright-eyed 121 Talk-shows 122 He squeezed 122 October' 123 Identical 123 Differently 124 You just 124 Weathering 125 Eb Mass (Schubert D. 950) 126 Answering (Wallace Stevens) 126 Dark silen 127 The impress (for Neil) 127 Brueghel 128 The American 128 Those haunt 128 It rained 129 Van Eyck’ 129 October 130 When his eye 130 Trees in 130 Poets (to the memory of Wordsworth) 131 The mind a 131 Scientist 132 Her voice 132 Temptation 133 Explained away 133 The ideal 134 It's one of 134 The how-one- 135 Night cease 135 This harvest 135 Iflove’ 136 At the end 136 “The rest is silence” (Shakespeare) 136 Handel 137 Sounds-sensing (for S. L.) 137 That unlimited sense 138 Secret diplom 138 Free will? (answering Schnitzler) 139 Traitors 139 He’s the type 140 A poet 140 Dark-day 140 These over- 141 It’s easier 141 My dear 142 Glenn Gould (Goldberg Variations) 142 Reading bet 143 Yellow 143 Nothing 144 The “idea of 144 Still-stand 145 “Of two minds” 145 That cool 146 Is autumn's 146 Sweet 147 Of all month 147 John Sadowsky 148 Novalis 148 Mozart’ 149 The truth 149 Pink 150 Rowing (for Ingo) 150 Question 151 Does art 151 A little 152 152 Darkroom 153 Night wind 153 Contrasts (2) 153 a) Haydn' 153 b) Beethoven 154 Morning 154 Van Eyck 154 Seeing 155 “I believe 155 Abraham M. Bartholdy (Felix Mendelssohn’s father) 156 Art only 156 They lower 157 Sterile 157 Ours an 158 Heart-beat 158 Ship-of-fools 159 2nd Commandment (Moses) 159 Guide-lines 160 Goethe’ (Urfaust, Faust I) 161 If Catherine 161 The Great Gatsby 162 The bright 162 This train’ 163 Everything 163 Long stret 164 Uneasy 164 October 165 The poem 165 Some per 165 Two-levelled 166 This night’ 166 Dark night’ 167 Lights on 167 Winter’s 168 Cliche 168 There may 168 Through 169 This morn 169 Dance-form 170 Parallel tracks 170 Window 171 Fogs 171 Inbetweened 171 These fogs 172 When in 172 A long dis 173 The train 173 And what if 174 Two identities 174 If “the pen 175 These autum 175 He inhabit 176 That little 176 Rachael’ 176 He believed 177 Rain incom 177 Late autumn 178 Where do 178 Desk-light 179 Stone-sensed 179 For Rosemarie 180 Can the 180 Carmen 181 Can one 181 No one else 182 Swallow 182 Praying 183 “Foolish 183 Mirroring 184 Whisper 184 Sabbath 185 The piano 185 Do we all 186 Only after 186 Audiences 187 If 187 Haydnesque 188 Flower 189 Dark beginn 189 Answering Tolstoy (5) 190 a) The meaning 190 b) The later 190 c) It’s of 191 d) “L ’etat c 'est moi ” 191 e) Turgenev (1882) 192 For Rosemarie 192 If the blind 193 Puffed-up 193 Clouded 194 Gericault 194 On Chinese Art (for Neil) (5) 195 a) The fine 195 b) Chinese 195 c) Nudes 196 d) When the 196 e) An elite- 197 Wheel-chaired 197 Crutches 198 As Macbeth 198 This clinic 199 It was death 199 Aging per 200 Only love 200 “Making 201 Sleep over 201 Morning 202 This over 202 Dual-identity 202 Lost 203 That late 203 “On the wrong side’ 204 A lingering fear 204 Time-touch 205 Keeping a 227 On Chinese Art (2) 205 The way a 228 a) as if 205 We’ve not 228 b) ati art 206 His invis 229 Light-blue 206 Only one 229 Prcvorst 207 Love and death 230 Writing 207 When 230 Warren 208 Those mount 231 Through 208 Does the 231 Sleep’ 208 At the Queen (2) 232 Family-tree 209 a) Elizabeth 232 Do the blind 209 b) an almost 233 That slow- 210 Autumn 233 For Franz (4) 210 Haydn’s Sun 234 a) Allegri’s Miserere 210 A behind-thc- 234 b) Piano Concerto 2 211 If Shakespeare’s 235 (Shostakovich slow nwt.) 211 Handel 235 c) Air (Bach, Goldberg Variations) 211 Handel 236 d) Romance in F (Beethoven) 212 Dual-image 236 Autumnal 212 M. S. 237 Those self- 212 Forbidden 237 November 213 The stranger 238 Writing 213 The yacht 238 Our jovial 214 Does 239 Something a 214 N ight-of-crystals 240 For Rosemarie 215 Living-low 241 "Words ofvvis 215 The lost hotel (at Feldafing) 241 Honesty 215 Full moon 242 The dead 216 An off-center type 242 Faith 216 Some women 243 Dream 217 Answering Adorno 244 Piano Quartets (Mozart) 217 Holbein 244 Medicin 217 Why that 245 A hard night 218 Phantom car- 246 Light-impress 218 So many 246 Curtain’ 218 Change-of-guard 247 Such a beau 219 Hans Holbein jr. 248 Too late 219 After season 248 Sleepless 220 Anonymous 249 After his 220 Hurt-pride 249 When Christ 221 Some last 250 Feelings 221 Moralist 250 That 222 If it’s 251 Shakespeare 223 Catharsis? 251 40 rooms 223 For them (the Diirers, Down to the 224 Holbeins, DaVincis) 252 The dream 225 “It all comes back to (haunt) us” When Vladimir 225 (Strindberg) 252 Klee’s 226 Vacant 252 Romance (Carl Stamitz, 226 Fog-night 253 November 7 227 That unrecorded past 253 Life-blood 254 f) For Christ 279 Holbein' 254 Kafka out 279 Holbein’ 255 The last defense 280 Minister’s house (Malmsheim) 255 Family roll-call (7) 280 The nightly return (Ptorr 1809) 256 a) Two sisters 280 On those 256 b) She read so 281 ‘Tailing asleep” 257 c) (hide Morton 281 Dialogued 258 d) Aunt Sylvia 282 Unexpect 258 e) Barr)' 282 It was on 259 f) Grandpa Barney 283 One friend left 259 g) Ftta 283 On portraiture (3) 260 Poems are 284 a) It isn’t 260 Rosemarie 284 b) The best 261 The deep 285 c) 11 lien ii pict 261 That window 285 Personalized (2) 262 Colorings 286 a) Good novel 262 Cain 286 b) I erineer 262 Reattuned? 287 S. S. 263 This land 287 Poems ot remembrance (4) 264 Those stain 288 a) Holding on 264 Stone-by-stone 288 b) Danger a 264 After his illness (for Ingo) 289 c) Firmly 265 Is time run 289 d) That speech 265 A scculari 290 The fear of winter 266 He walked 290 A no man’ 266 Those unex 291 Those still 267 That silent 291 The corridor 267 This late 292 For Rosemarie 268 Buxtehude’ 292 Some leave 268 Exploring 293 Does (as they say) 269 Frozen 293 Life goes on 269 A higher church (official) I 294 As we live 270 Human zoos (for Michael) 295 You can’t 270 A higher church (official) II 296 Her puppet 271 Attacked 296 Only once 271 The German 297 Big-stoned little stones 272 The creed 298 Some of 272 A warning 298 The sound 273 Songs without words A double-life 273 (Mendelssohn) 1 299 She conform 274 Songs without words II 299 He was dress 274 Waiting 3oo Child-sold 275 Unwanted advice (to a Kafka 275 Nobel Prize poet) 300 All genuine 276 ‘‘Dawned on him" 301 Last Sunday in the church year (6) 276 Abbreviations 301 a) The tree 276 For Rosemarie 1 302 b) Today 277 For Rosemarie II 302 c) Death ’ 277 Ode .i Rogier van der Weyden 303 d) Is death 27 X Contrasts (2) 303 c) Without 278 a) Tan F.yck 303 b) Whereas 304 Christian 304 When the 304 On Kafka (4) 305 a) That-way 305 b) Wider-framed 306 c) Kafka’ 306 d) If Angst' 307 The law 307 Saymg 308 Rain 308 That chair 309 How many 309 Those ghost 310 A lone Decern 310 For Rosemarie 310 Does the 311 He heard 311 Cornered 312 A fter her 312 Morning 313 Christianed 313 Interval 314 No secret 314 Special e 314 For Christian Lehnert 315 Mood- 316 A rabbit’ 316 The dangl 316 Sourced (in memory Charles Seliger) 317 Recallings 317 Knight-devil-death (Diirer) 318 Mirroring 318 “Copycat” 319 Outsourced 319 l'1 Quartet (Bartok) 320 Op 76,5 (Haydn quartet. last mvt.) 320 Op. 76,5 (Haydn, slow mvt.) 321 Renaming 321 Buber's 322 The poem 322 Late fall’ 323 Dr. Wallner’ 323 I only re 324 Two Flemish masters (2) 324 a) Van der Wey 324 b) The brilliant 325 He follow 325 Too much 326 That half- 326 Gryphius 327 There 327 Weimar and Buchenwald 328 Pioneer days (in memory Willa Gather) (2) 329 a) the unlimit 329 h) Pioneer 329 Question 330 This dried- 330 Why moral 331 The right-rev 331 String-Quartet (Ravel) 332 Clarinet Quintet (Brahms !'• mvt.) 332 The viola’ 332 Op 64,2 (Haydn’s Quartet - finale) 333 On Brahms’ 333 Light-fan 334 2,K| Advent 334 Rebuild 335 “Egged-on” 335 Between 2 worlds (4) 336 a) An interior- 336 b) The Jew 336 c) between 33 7 d) between 337 Judging 338 Unchangeable 338 This wind’ 339 In memory C. S. 339 When a poem 340 A money-thinker 340 It rained 341 “We Three Kings of Orient are” 341 Karl Stamitz 342 “Its our 342 “O come all 343 The Jewish- 343 The Call (4) 344 a) through 344 b) That finger’ 344 c) The calling of St. Matthew (Caravaggio) 345 d) L’apiH'l (Gauguin) 345 Too explicit 346 Exposing (3) 346 a) Love’ 346 b) Trom secretly exposing 34 7 c) St. Anthony (Griinewald) 347 Alone 347 He felt 348 The land 348 Seldom 348 Prodigal Son? (for M. S.) 349 Faith 349 It 350 Kafka’ 350 Over 351 Those eye 351 9lh Plague in Egypt (Handel) 352 Those andante 352 Come-on 353 Short-timed 353 Being watched 354 German portraiture ca. 1500 (Munich, December 2011) (11) 354 a) discovering 354 b) Woman with a Bonnet 355 (Augsburg 1517) 355 c) Holbein'sJane Seymour 355 d) Holbein’s 356 e) Diirer’ 356 f) Diirer’s portrait oj 357 Jakob Mujfal (1526) 357 g) Furtenagel 357 (“The painter Burkmaier and his wife ”) 351 h) Why did 358 i) Wolf Huber’ 358 j) Portraiture 358 k) Seeing and 359 Time-eluding 359 She had 360 Listening 360 Mozart’ 361 Schubert’ 361 Heavy 362 Pink’ 362 These fount 363 “Count your 363 For Rosemarie 364 For H. B. 364 Is life then 365 High school 365 Otherwised 366 Marked-off or down (4) 366 a) A 2nd start 366 b) Lot’s wife 36 7 c) Boundaries 367 d) The Lord' 368 Humanism? 369 Karl Stamitz (born 1743) 369 3 Romances oboe and piano (Schumann op. 94) 370 Pruning a 370 The sub 371 Looking a 371 White 372 Portrait of a Young Man 372 (Hans Siiss von Kulmbach 1520) 372 His dream 373 For Norman 373 Diirer’ 374 Death’ 374 Baldung Grien 375 4 Thought-poems 376 (December 15, for Ingo and Solvey) 376 a) Music 376 b) Should we 376 c) Those epoch 377 d) Friends 377 Lonely face 378 His motive 378 The black 379 Purifying needs (3) 379 a) After Auschwitz 379 b) alight 380 c) Keat’s 380 Alena’ 380 Grammar (for Warren) 381 Her way 381 She 382 Handel’s Messiah (last mvt.) 382 "I know that my redeemer liveth” (Messiah-Job) 383 Cranach’ 383 One doesn’ 384 So-much-of answering (Robert Frost) 384 Many-flagged 385 When 385 The eas 386 Symphony HB 44 (Haydn last mvt.) 386 Piano Concerto 9 (Mozart k. 271, slow mvt.) 387 Those uncommon 387 Those bright- 388 Living a 388 Children’s games (Brueghel) 389 Suddenly 389 Identities 390 This bare 390 Space only 391 This house 391 So many 392 This winter 392 Some key 393 Early morn 393 They were 394 Why gift 394 The Lord’s 395 Snow 395 Light-sensings (Advent poems) (2) 395 a) Night- 395 b) Winter 396 Oboe Quartets (Vanhal) 396 Gracean 397 He wanted so 397 If after 398 Is the still 398 His unfind 399 Advent-Christmas poems (5) 400 a) Has Christ 400 b) The world’ 400 c) It’s only 401 d) If‘the 402 e) Our always-now 402 When 403 Some Christ 404 He wrote 404 The Marian 405 Some women 405 These pearl- 406 If we deny 406 A silence 407 Christmas Oratorio (Bach) (5) 407 a) Bright 407 b) How often 408 c) For Bach 408 d) The choral 408 e) Each instru 409 Her penetrat 409 “We’re all a 410 Christmas 411 At sea 411 Christmas Story (Heinrich Schutz) 412 Israel 413 That bare- 413 The Jcwish- 414 Israel 414 The Adultress 415 “Sticks and 415 Christmas Eve 416 O Magnum Mystcrium 416 Weelke’ 416 Christmas 417 Raphael 417 This old 418 This Christmas tree (for my Rosemarie) 418 Candle 419 “When the 419 “O come all ye faithful” 420 At the zoo (9) 420 a) Flamingo’ 420 b) Tropical 420 c) Kangaroo 421 d) Lady-lion 421 J) The “wise-old- 421 g) Penguin 421 h) The tiger 422 i) Giraff 422 j) The broad- 422 More 423 Thought- 423 These day’ 424 That lone 424 These naked 424 A lone 425 These out 425 Not even 425 Learning 426 Can one o 426 Aron 426 Alena 427 A Raphael 427 He 428 Checked-out 428 “Keeping up appearances” 429 Car light 429 Playing with fire 430 Night 430 Still-standing 431 Unnamed person 431 Tunelessly 432 Caught- 432 New Year (3) 433 New Year 433 New Year 433 He 434 My father’ 435 How often 435 A bleak 436 He 436 The snow 437 A snow- 437 These 437 It’s those 438 Some friend 438 Meeting 439 Only pain 439 Rc-creat 440 A. B.’ 440 A house 440 The snow con 441 There 441 Snow 442 Blood-cries 442 The rain 443 It’s too 443 Time-alert 444 How much 444 A lost poem 445 How many 445 Talk shows 446 “A cheap forgiveness" (Bonhoetfcr) 446 Smiles (5) 447 a) Those a 447 b) Those prejkir 447 c) Smiling as 447 d) The natural 448 e) Smiling at 448 Cello Concerto 1 (Karl Stamitz slow mvt.) 448 A moon 449 Can I 449 Some 450 Lois at 78 450 Doris 451 Thanks to Marina Moisei for her continued help with these poetic manuscripts I’ve been often asked why I break words between lines. As Lenore, one of my most perceptive readers said, “You don’t really break words between lines, but place them within the entire rhythmic flow of the poem. As my poems are extremely condensed I don’t want words, especially the longer ones, to be “hanging out”, therefore this very musical need for such a continuing on. Word-break, if one wants to call it that, means that these words must be put back together again, almost as if they’ve become recreated, newly realized. David Jaffin Prepared? Can one be prepared for death Or is it prepar ing for us the secret un known of its secluded si lences. theme left as when Diirer encircled the exact place of where the pain was taking the life out of him. Birth-pained Do these branch cd-flower s color at the pain of sudden ly birth ed. Flat-earth If the earth became as flat as we thought it out then we’ d always be moving away from undefrn ably distan cing the never finding back to self a gam. Even in Giorgione that black-blank back drop where Christ birth s a world out of the dark nesses of our timeless ly impend ing fear s. And sudden ly there That snake black emp ty-eyed (if he had any) star ing out the impenetrab le void of my mooned-cold shin ing fear s. Snow-dream (7) s with only the winds as those tin touchab ly-vanish ing remind ers. a) Ever greens stand ing out their own way of taming the season’s change able identity. b) Flash ing color s the sea in unrest dark ly disturb ed repeating unheard sig nailing c) What children re member leave their parent s oft una ware of o thcreyes and sensing through their own self-limiting ex posures. d) Two sides If there are two sides to every story Why does his tory recount such a time less variety of ongoing possibili ties. e) Chemistry They call it “chemistry” but we’ve never found the true mean ing ot love ready-prescrib ed for exper imental test- tubes. J) First impressions If first im pression s merge in to subtler realisat ions It’s per haps because we’ve been less ened down to our own self-refining per spective s. g) Squirrelled You can’t squirrel me in-to those branch ed decept ive lengthrunning s. Helmut Years ago when death at first took its stead ied aim at him a marks man precision ed for blood It hit a side though he remained resilent ly time-endur mg. For Rosemarie / Only when you’re there This hou sc seems as if a oneness of place All that time- resolving word alive to what wasn’ t even said before. He was the type who took the easy way s the usual ly prescrib cd routes until mapp ed-out dead- ended to a nowhere s that could n’t find him back again. Future planning Man’s way of satisfy ing his own sense of what isn’t his to de tide. Helmut’s end Death had sig nailed its coining often- enough before it arrived at the side door unheard expected ly there. For Rosemarie II receptive ly-mild as when the wind s turn south wards and touch warm s even more than the light-refrain of your voice-concealing smile. Humanism (Luther’s relics) How can I believe in “man” when I can’t be lieve in my self s be ing better than he really is. Trakl s melancho ly word-col oring heav ily what’ s wanting for flow. Death ’ s transcend ing beauty only in au tumn the leave s realize their truly annointed color’s transform the depth of scent-silen ces. Leaf pattern s a mosaic of transcend ing light-co loring s. Autumn feels a far-off incomplete foreboding released in touch-scented dis tancing s. At the ceme tery those post-war stones ris ing ever-high er the length of their life-long shadow ings. “Major poem s” (as Eliot called them) oft too-inrport ant to clothe those “minor” incident s of a life- breath scarce ly record ed. Oft have I heard that at life’s criti cal moments It was those who helped the most from whom we had good reason to ex pect the least. The Creed left Godfather as only the Great or devoid of His all-encom passing bibli cal plan. INRI That water ed christ ening may have cleans ed me in Christ’s cele brating pur ity though it was only the sacramen tal blood that jewed me to His ultimate time-exhaust ing presence. For Lot and his wife look ing back meant the death of a new-beginn ing Is that why time’ s continual ly closing so many chap ters to our insufficient ly evolving new wards. “To thine own self be true” Two problem s hearing Polon ius’ advice mirr oring a blemish ed source What’s true may not re mam so as the right train newly rerout ed along a nother a vailable track. “Serving two masters” (Mozart/Goldoni) What remain ed unfinish ed in the score replent ished with change able identi ties masking an ensemble of self-de ception s unacount ably Mozart. Walking well-placed steps those re flective e choings left him closer-tight thought-in tensed. Chandelier’ (forH. B.) s intricate ly intertwin ing a light- sceptre of lyrical in terlude s. Chopin (Concerto 1, slow mvt.) dream ily touch ing through the heart-reach of lyri cal express iveness. Donatello at times fiercely pagan though with visionary prophet ic eye-depth. Is life a picture-book the way children learn to read-out those unfam iliar paged-faces. Donatello (however var ied those person’) s marbled to the exclus ive realm s (so strong ly conceived) of self-vin tage. He wrote himself in to the morn ing’s tenta tively selfconceiving though in creasing ly light. Self-control can also mean that hold ing-back form- defining its thorough ly inherent cause. Escape routes When there’ s no other way than that turning in narrow medieval es cape route s breathless ly self-en closing. Flower s lose their colors shad owing on stone’ s death-i mage of man’ s unlimited self-resolve. Sick-time when that room (in herentiy there) now becomes act ively known drawing its colors into an indcscrib able timed-oneness. If you look at a rounded- ripe apple long enough you may be drawing its taste out of your inquisi five eye-length Madonna of the Clouds (Donatello) poetical ly releas ing into stream s ofheaven ly gladness es. Aphorisms (12) a) Onr enemie s may mean more of us than our own self-mirr ormg apprai sals. b) Time took its own self-disguising routes until we realized we’d been timed-out. c) In autumn the leaves change color s whereas man leaves the same im pression sea sonlessly adept. d) The frog hops the squir rel springs from branch to branch The birds fly over the heights of mountain ness shadow ings And I sit here only wordfully- admiring. e) For Rosemarie without you more than a rib taken out of the center-ot-self would be failing. J) I am not (answering Descartes) because I think but be cause 1 was thought-out long before my birthed-beginning. g) Those who are lonely should real ize how the smallest of flower s opens-out its very-per son to the insistent callings of light- h) The churcli- bells sound ing out a heavenly brightness but few came to realize why. i) “Painter ly qualitie s” may have minded the most of pre sent histor ians But the artists them selves oft express ing how vis ually-alive their faith had become. j) Really-seen He looked at what he thought was The-Jew- in-me Money-minded danger ously clever But then he looked a 2nd time to see what he’d really-seen. k) She put on a special ly decorat mg hat for the christen ing But still her thought s remained heavily earth-bound. 1) Noah’s ark through the floods follows a mapless route Israel in the desert without a compass to direct its un disclosing ways And we godlessly a lone. This morn ing’s green e volving slow ly into the true-full ness of his mind’s recall ing response. Dream became so much the more of his time lessly a float a silent boat drifting stilled-wa ters. If Goethe and Schiller became the spring-time summer- fulfilling poets What be came of their death-evok ing winter ing thought s. Sin s become so prevalent ly always- therc that one can’t find that word-fbr-it anymore. Even gold of the pur est kind’ s packed in the dross of its unclean sed appear ance. These tree s holding as a mother would shadowing lcafed-silen ces. These knot s blemish ing the 1938 wood Wounds that only blood could fully real ize. Bach 2'ui Violin Concerto (slow mvt.) That tug boat of slow-moving push-sound s its ex elusive right-of-way. That sound less elevat or stopped him to a nowhere’ s place high above that depthed feeling self-enclos ed. Date-time If we knew the exact date-time of our own death Would life (its half-bro ther) keep us closer-yet to its deny ing pulse. Consisten (for Warren) cy of the same-usage may deny the right of each poem to decide its own undivid ed facial ly-adept appearance. Classically defying Beethoven even more than Schubert sized-out forms beyond their amen of only here- for-now. The fogs as a maiden’ s chaste-mod esty only lifted her skirts at the timely-right to expose an almost untouch ably beauti fied presen ce. Why I pre fer Macbeth to Hamlet because it says-it-all so pre cisely classi cally-con densed. The light-con tinuity of a circular 3rd floor win dow kept the night awake by circling it into its expression less void. Thomas Bernhard’s “Wittgenstein ’s Nephew” left him circling round its con tinuously repetitive style until (for fear of los ing ground- touch) stopp ed page 45. Dream s are those silently un answering voices a float upon the sea’s spa ciously al ways-inbecom ing. Are dream s the shad owings of what never- could-havc-been time lcssly re peating. After-phrasings It rained the night through his phrasing s. “Make-believe” as if we couldn’t shad ow our child hood’s world into its eye-closing make-believe. Taste Is taste of most-any-kind what we’ve been taught to see-believe Or is it in trinsic to our own self- realizing in tuition s. Foot-prints Why are our steps-insand so close ly realized though all— too-soon impression lessly wash ed-over Where as those on stone leave nothing more than need less faint ly-sought echoing s. For Rosemarie Only you and the poem have become my constant ly-now in these age-de termining times of ir rctrievab le loss. Robert may have left all-that be hind that never-again Scarsdale that formed him to his own denial of nothing less than his still—sha dowing self. “It-had-to-be” why as if that pre-deter mining “it” more person ed than the flesh-and-blood’s answer ing that all-its-own. At 14 the days no longer num bered now as those oc casional clouds flow ing into a unity of timeless ly therea bout s. When the star (however bright it might have appeared) grew into those feared-impending darkness es of death. Used Those who let themsel ves be used will soon be come used- out as coin s with only that dulled-imprint left. Rotnanze (Karl Stamitz, 2"J Cello Concerto) The full-flush of coloring-sentiment o verflowing the cello’s bright- hued time-en trancing s. Marriage Portrait (Van Eyck) Van Eyck’ s jewelled colors satiating even more than that lady’s awaken ing prepared ness. Matthias (for Thomas) Claudius’ home-bred ly rics modest ly assuming those everyday little things that fashion life within our own pri vate day-for- day. The ink may have dried-down from its all- inhabiting flow But life kept recall ing him hack to its phas ed but never fully satiat ed appearan ces. 2"A Commandment (Moses) The god of only-love may have breath ed-out the es sence of its very-being when death guilt and suffer ing call for a holiness well-beyond what man has so deft: ]y re-created to his own self-design ing image. The slow movement of Shostako viches’ 2nd Piano Concerto so romanti cally conceiv ed that I wondered what he was hiding him self from. Trouble s bring more of the same They multiply as other liv ing things do until sat iated with their lust for much of life’s eager undoing s. And even its own people as with David pursued by Saul’s king ly power Or of The Christ crucified for their willing-to- sell-him-out Now Israel with its own Bruteses’ daggered for those fateful spoil s. When the winds stopped that autumn could take on its own re luctantly beautify ing colors Marked as the Jewish star with that in herent stigma for death. They said he loved child ren because of their in nocence as if they weren’ t as spite ful as those grown to a need for such innocent ly self-e vading long ings. That self-re cording pict ure of Hein rich Himmler smiling death ly-seated in his SS 1 car receiving the records of an aging starr ed-Jew Lodz-ghettoed me into a Jewish past that’ s become irre concilably a part of my own. Half-half That orient al half-smile almost-laugh half-embarr assing half- conceal ing from whom of us both half-half. “Right to the point” He came “right-to- the-point” ed edge a bloodless dart that marked him out tight ly shadow ing. of fear of an impotent voicea-out Nothing to say that had n’t been bett er said be fore. The inner and the out er world of vision and of fancy as Van Eyck’s surfacing a new-found beauty so visually self-appar ent. Scholar ly eyes no wheres-else than those in tricate pap ering detail s of a recon ceiving past that left him sourced to a nother sensed-from-being. The word “glad” can take on a smiling form if it’ s more than just a lip-evoking sound. Out-timed When color s fade out-timed as thought s that could n’t hold their prim ary' bright ness-call. He knew those dark ly animal-sides that in habited the depth of his own being kept him lifelong on that fugitive scent for wo manly prey. s of his ag ing Grasped that coldly designed rail ing his hand- length balanc ing those claims from his slowly de scending cause. Quick in sights from a nowhere’ s-his press ing for its sudden word- response. That penetrat ing fear of winter stream ing through his heart’ s rock-bott omed source. Dementia She couldn’ t relocate herself Knew all the sign s and stop s but routed-wrong from a far-off All reclaim ing source. Hommage a Eichendorff When he en tcred the woods as if approach ing another sense of be ing darken ed his selffelt shadow s to a voice less though all-consum ing silence. A vacant room bared wall s with only the sound of shadows in habiting their scarce ly seen pre sence. Do leave s realize their impend ing fall’ s color ing tones so beautify ing the final ity of their deathly re lease. The glory of English IfShakes peare had been born into another lan guage He wouldn’t have been Shakespeare Language makes the most ofus and this langu age most-of- all. Proud The way she dressed prin cess-like the super iority of her self-assuming dignity while selling roll s Proud but of what remained to be seen of that not thor oughly known. Funeral Why so many guards offic ially attend ing Death’s regular half- hour’s inter val’s careful ly selected words the preacher’ s assuming gravity that solemn approa ch to the o pen grave swallow ing up the last of time’ s thorough ly rehearsed performan ce. Autumn al sunrise lifting the transpar "of darkness es to the moonless morning’ s breath-in. Secluded garden s walled-in sound lessly flow ering their unseen though chastely- bright color ings. “New lands” they called it as a wo man alway s in wait ing to be re claimed from her anxious readiness. “On the brink” of an unknown though scarce ly defining fall into the consuming abyss of those cold and ashened remains. s need of poem’ s revealing a sanctuary of delicate ly refin ing beauty. Each word’ s not only shaped to its inherent self but part of a phras ing sound- sense intuit ively rebirth ed. A letter from my high school day s as if I could still find myself out-closed from that cold-imper sonal build ing that left me much as it self remained. “The best” They alway s meant “the best” for me Though as most usual parents that “best” mirror ed more of themselve s than of my own o therwise person ed. Clarinet Concerto (Mozart, slow mvt.) Dark wind s the beauty ot a sadness encompass ing the more of us than we could poss ibly realize. Te Deum (Haydn) The majesty of the Creat or celestial ly proclaim ing his all- consuming light-source. Abusing history Some culture s adept at using history in their own way to change the course of “what really happened”. Can music of the most intimate kind so con vincing ly achieve a unity of selfless re sponse. Commemora tive poems of the poet-laureate kind more a display of their own word-enchanc ing design s. Nonsense makes more sense in a world de ceptively escaping from its intend ed orbit. The real protest a gainst our-times should not only pro tect nature but more-so protect us from the sovereign domain’s of human-nature. After 30 years of marr iage and 6 children She simply pack ed up and left a free woman with no more claim s on her find ing anything or anyone ex cept her life-enthralling self. The feel of things One could just call it the-feel-of- things not where or why but simply answering one’s unspok en but al ways inherent ly self-re fleeting needs. Early 1945 Rosemaire on the wood ed-run from those low-flying plane s that would have taken her rest less blood as a souvenir of accurate killing s. Bigger-better those late 19th century’ s big symphon ies as loud as their own dimension s would re quire Or those big canvass es dripping-down effus ions of pulsat ing readi nesses. Mystery-man We knew he’ d been a spy behind the German line s Radio-Free Europe rundown in the bright day light of 5th Avenue New York An ex pert on the brush-stroke s of the old masters met iculously in life-long love of a wo man married to his best friend. After Cezanne A still-life bowl-of-fruit held silent ly by its self-enclos ing surface s in the subtle balan cing eye- sense. past behind as Lot and his wife or those so-many German Jew s remain ed to the fires heat ing up their quest for a no-where’s- else. Sitting waiting for no thing to happ en The den sity of a moment’s space-breath mg. leep’s like silently de scending untouch able step s into the depths of darknesses’ all-encom passing quietly en visioned realms. A medieval town submerg ed in the en veloping mist of a timeless ly evoking past. Make-up models end cingly ilium mating papercovering’ s their glim mering eyes and most es pecially those white- creamed teeth of their s. Matthias Claudius’ (for Thomas) everyday ed me to an escpecially close-feel sense of those daily little-things that reclaimed more of our unrealiz ing intima cies. The soft breath of wind caress ing the au tumn’s re ceptive leaves to a love-death cycle of fall ing color- finds. Swan’s song if it real ly became the last and only beauti lying voice that even these self-re hearsing wave s soften ing-down to an accumulat ing gladness of response. Chopin without my mother’s more than occasion al mistake s left me with a child hood feel ing his nrus ic (however correctly e volving) could never become quite-the-same. For Rosemarie Our voice s soften ing as the lowering of light s to a self-finding to gether ness. These late September leaves spread ing out a soundless mosaic-ex panse of self-protect ive reassur ing enclos ures. Woman 1940 (de Kooning) Her eyes mis placed from thought- stream’s wind owed blue ness through- Sonre are so inhabited with what they’ve learned to fading. see think and feel that they appear more like a copy of that lost-origin al. Lesser-self When he could n’t anymore in a room of self-chos en picture s staring out the va cances of his im pending lesser-self. They turn ed their e yes away from what they knew they shouldn’t as if see ing could blem ish their o therwise “in nocent” re spouse. Autumn ’s decept ive bright ness as a wo man sparse ly dressed to keep one at those allur ing interval s ofhand’ s length-a way. One word a lone bracing the whole ness of that newly “en lightened” poem-sense. Satisfied Few are tru ly satisfied as if that “untouch able” fruit had awaken cd the linger ing taste for an always- more. Why do some birds (and not other s) feel that urging irre sistible need for flight over the moun tain’s entomb ed-grasp ing stillness es. Berries spare and cool color ed to be touched classical ly confin mg. Harvesting (2) a) Hot-blood ed and cold-hearted Many of Schnitzler’ s personae landscap ing those o pen plains ani mailed with the instinct s of their lonely harvest ings. b) The last of the sun flowers Too cold to har vest more light from those aband oning time ly cut-down fields. For Rosemarie when marr iage still becomes after 50 years that one-timed room inti mately held-through these touch ed-silen ces of ours. Questioning Schnitzler Can one be come a some time moral ist by mir roring through others one’s own helpless ly forsaken sense for those lost but still possibly meaning ful value s. Zelenka’ s Christmas Mass bright ly alive to that unearth ly light focus ing this dark-down shadow ing world of ours. Upended Putting “one’ s best foot forward” as if those un seen slipp ery surface s could so easily upend our less-fo cused though timely approa ches. Escape-routes In-it be fore a way-out as Alice in Wonderland when life’ s become more a labyrin th of intan gible escape- routes. The magic of words Even if he’ s got noth ing to say He says it in such a way disguis ing its mean ing-more. What seem ed the “every day” may change with us its charnel eon-like col ors that we e merge as from a magic wood secretly-sensed sur prising ly renewed. He lost his fear of death by living life more persuas ively. Utrecht Te Deum (Handel) Handel rare ly angeli cally light but power fully strength ened my sense of God’s creat ing vastness. When foot notes start walking their own sense-of-direction leaving preformed impress ions to a pa pering contin uity. Erntedankfest (Thanksgiving) A windless Sunday morn ing The field s barren and bared to their inherent naked ness Nothing left to be offered now except the reach of this foreboding stillness silently a ware. The Great Divide as if the New Coven ant birthed- of-itself left the old one as these barren devot ionless field s earthed- down. Dried-out dead-crumbi ed leave s me with that end-of-war-image Life-deform ed corpses piling high those untell ing guilt-re sidues. Handel’ s many-voic ed strength as straightforward as a marching cavalry re claiming nothing less than the vi tality of its pre-deter mining source. When Handel turns his voice with in lyrical ly refrain ed to those hushed-silen ces of an al mostly other worldly de votion. “The law” spiritual ly fulfilled by Christ Stone-faced for Paul kept my peo pie spirit ually alive those almost two thousand years of e- xile God work s wonders darkly unimag incd. Sun-instinct ive insect’ s light-in fusing midday vision ary tract s. The river slow-stream ed into those soft ly felt cur ves of time less forget fulness. Handel and Holbein German or Eng lish as if transform ing their re newed sense-for-identity. At 74 When the day s of the week have lost their name-sense to a scarcely re claiming i dentity as if time-it self evening out tideless ly obscur mg. To be old and alone when winter has kept one tightly with in its bare and barren grasping the little left of those lost and bright ly adorned imagining s. Some succeed as those self- attuned grand mas and grand pas through the wide-awaken ing child-eyes and fear s without es caping the loss of their own needs for a time-redeem ing past. Handel left me littled-down by the grand eur of his space-amass ing self-as surance s. Getting a head must leave o thers behind alone self-applauding at that un timely finish ing line. Only-now But a faint reflect ion of what had been so long forgott en as if time had dimm ed to this moment of be ing only-Now. October morning The trees search ing through their impend ing loss of leaves me al most bared- felt the co loring depth of their na kedly impend ing source. Handel and Milton faith- cousins bright-darkly sourc ed from The Creator’ s epic maj esty. Butter flics tilt ing their ex pressive ly color ing flower’ s instinct. Remembering (3) a) Writing it all-out or even all-off an im perfect guide to re membering those less- explicit pap ering after thought s. b) If one no longer remem bers even while recall ing only those blank pages It ceas es (however much) from being. c) One-way streets What other s remember and I’ve long- since forgott en as that u sual tandem between par cuts and chil dren’s recurr ing needs for a one-way street. Shaded en closure s in the coolness of that clos ed-in garden that he could almost hear the breath-i mage of his own voice less silence s. For Rosemarie It’s only when love be comes a keepsake intimate ly attuned to its own sense-of-be mg. Mendels sohn’s Scott ish dance as Dvorak’s In dian one may have taken them (for just a heguil ing moment) off their firmly-set seated compo sures. At the end of the road that didn’ t endless ly blue a no-where’ s-more. It’s only when dance rhythms us to the thriv ing pulse of its self-acti vating blood-enthusing s. Mendels sohn at his best fine-sensing its sourccd-through trans parent awaken ings. Should a preacher ad here to the needs of his self-reali zing parish Or should he stand above both Godtending His imperisha ble word-flesh ed birthed-designs. This room (the poet’s) has its own way of draw ing me in to its dark ly composed pre-ordain ed silenc ings. Does the poet write for his most ly unknown audience Or must he himself be poemed- through for that word’s (as yet) inde scriba ble need s. 3’d Quartet (Shostakovich) That mock-in nocence of his circular theme’s a lonely voice walled-into its no-ways- out. Op 18,6 Quartet (Beethoven) A rhythmic dialogue as Haydn (his master) had done But an almost off-bal anced intens ing that melan choly slowvoiced flow. Weather talk’s not small but a heavenly reaching-down to cloud our mood’ s self-corn posing still nesses. A la Schnitzler (2) a) Flower-calls When women be come for some a self-satis fying urge An untouch ed landscape seeded with one’s own self illumin ating flower-calls. b) Those bee’ s wander- routes perfum ing their daily round s with empty- scented flow erings. The Sandras Those as Sandra who know what they want pressing to have it now ever-sooner losing it as a butter fly netted to its own need for flight. By chance? (AnsweringJ. B. Bury) They may have been seeming ly chance- ways that led us either here or e ven their side- routes But only at the end when time has evened- out we came to realize it’s always s having been meant just-that-way. Time-being Life phase s us (how ever obscure ly sensed) into its own perspec tived timebeing. Those hidd en faces Mask ed as in a Greek tragedy that couldn’ t see how far we’d been search ing them through. Disguised Do wc all live disguis ed most-near ly from our selves that hide and seek through blind-fold ing inreveal ing darkness es. Aloned Those who live alone Roomed to those four-walled-in si lences rare ly answer ing back. Dark room s hollowed sound thump ing at the heart-beat of her fear ed-exposure s. Bright-eyed Her brighteyed “I know some thing you don’t know” as if my in knowing eye s could brigh ten-out that way too. Talk-shows talking out those indwell ing silenc es like hang ing old cloth es out to be dried from extra use. He squeezed the last drop out of that orange nectar until his hands harden ed to an in sufficient clawed- thereness. October’ s dark sun s when the rains have left but a wishful re minder of sum mer’s ilium inating dis tancing s. Identical twins(des pite appearan ces) not so much the same if raised and felt in to a differ ing world’ s self-reali zing. Differently He heard it different ly this time Had he chang ed or was it the music in terpreted another way Or what was performed be fore or af ter his hear ing it diff erently. You just can’t erase that everpresent blackboard from Miss Dudley’s un apprecia ble smile Mistakes should stay right there eyes-up keep ing you long-time a ware! Weathering A rain-wash ed Saturday away from its usual free-time appearan ces weather ing in o ver-expos ed monoton ed wetness es. Eb Mass (Schubert D. 950) That fright ening last movement of Schubert’s last mass fatefully rehearsing his own Day of Judgment The calling of all flesh from the depth of their voice less alone liness. Answering (Wallace Stevens) The poem isn’t Godlike If so- seen an em pty idol of ungodly self-expressive ness. Dark sileti ccs only the word can re veal those vastly un touchable distanc es. The impress (for Neil) ionists could only pretti fy the mysti cally masked-depths of the snow’ s awakening light. Brueghel alone help ed us real ize why the seasons deter mine so much of time’s un touchable awareness es. The American dream (at times closer to a night mare) waken ing up now to its lost identity. Those haunt ed images of her past (however hard she tried) could n’t simply be cleansed away kept return ing as dust accumulating its own sense- for-being. It rained so long it seemed as if the autumned flowers had been washed- out of all their color ing’s paled from scent and touch. Van Eyck’ s portrait s closer to a still- life inward ly self-in yoking. October moon increa sing the in tensity of night’s ex posing dark nesses. When his eye s simulat ing that ap parent dark ness as a cat’s lightawakening. Trees in visibly grow ing the dark through the height of its shadow ing appear ances. Poets (to the memory of Wordsworth) who don’t love child ren become sourced-out from their in nate life-ap pealing growth-in stinct s. The mind a lone is like a kite aloft tensing hand s without that flow-feel of unspoken winds-adrift. Scientist s home in their artifi cial labora tories with the exactness of papered e quations Whereas a poet breathes the life of un explored sense-feel mgs. Her voice seemed to float not really earthy- grounded but as if life was really where it wasn’t an other place perhaps e ven another timed. Temptation ’s that Adam and Eve’s given-too-much for wanting that otherwise more off-bound’ s self-appeal mg. Explained away Poems often endanger ed from their becoming ex plained a way from their mysterious untouchable appearan ce. The ideal ofbeauty continuous ly chang ing color s But still standing-up to its time lessly selfexpressing. It’s one of those dark- dismal day s so-much- so that e ven words seem used-out before they inescap ably come- to-mind. The how-one- says-it’s e ven more so of the what ofbeing’ s said. Night cease lessly incom ing as dark waves shored from their restless ly uneasing rhythmic- flow. This harvest moon bright er than the mind can real ize awaken ing those pre voiced rest less tide s of mine. If love’ s the mea sure and mean ing of all things Then Christ was cru cified as its most intimate ly self-reveal ing. At the end he aged in to the dark ness of night’ s unrequit ing all-envel oping time-flow. “The rest is silence” (Shakespeare) a return to what isn’t by always s being there. Hcindel may have chang ed with the musical fash ions of the time however opportune It still real ized his unmistak able voice. Sounds-sensing (forS. L.) Does a pian ist finger that music to life Or is it the music finger ing him in to its tonal ities of soundsensing. That unlimited sense It’s that un limited sense that can size us down over stepping those bounds from what-should- have-been. Secret diplom acy’s more the way we talk inside ourselve s so incon elusive ly overhear mg. Free will? (answering Schnitzler) If there’ s a no-turn ing-back (who can be certain of that) Why not route it otherwise it’s forcing you (fully a wares) to- the-brink. Traitors The real trait ors are those who sell-out on themselv es Not real ly turncoats but as nakedly in dined as Adam and Eve. He’s the type who couldn’ t recognize his own pic ture look ing back at a touch ed empty- eyedness. A poet doesn’t re cord new i deas But he idea’s word fully inre vealing. Dark-day s that childlike fear of the unseen unknown per meating the depths of his very- being. These over- satiated green leave s as person s who’ve seen too much of life fear ing death by holding on to what’s be come only less secure ly known. It’s easier to advise from the min inister’s self-adorning ped estal than taking that lesson for one self as if im niune to those down-below back-staired problem s. My dear Rosemarie pillowed in the soft ening cloud-flow of most ly angelic dreams. Gletlfl Gould (Goldberg Variations) realizing that music’ s a dialogue of more than fingers have known hum ing back to Bach’s inter ior-spacial sense-of-mean mg. Reading bet wcen-the-line s as if scan ning a face that says more than it appear s to mean. Yellow mg leave s as those time-lost wrinkles that age by one’s just look ing at. Nothing starts from the begin ing’s alway s imperfect ly pre-ordain ed the final form self- creating anew beginn mg. The “idea of progress” still inhabits our own cultural preception s The new (as with Beethoven) not a better-be yond the classi cal Haydn and Mozart but a differing aesthetic only to be measured by its own self-calling. Still-stand If time could stand-still as an appre ciable monu ment What would become of our own timeful ly evolving. “Of two minds” He may have been of “two minds” but the other-one del icately re fined to those scarcely touch ed snow-felt moment That cool mid-autumn al lit Pink in to one of his rarif ied secret ly enlighten ed self-encom passing mo ments. Is autumn’s but a soul less premoni tion of win ter’s death-haunting si lences Or a beautified summer’s longing s colorful ly describ mg. Sweet thought s and ten der leave s gardened in spring left him re motely Schu bertian brae ing for the cold winter s death- spell. Of all month s only Octob er realize s that hard-touched berr ied claims to a classi cal trans parency. John Sadowsky I remember him still as the first who found his way to my un touchable sensitivi ty Opened its blood-vessel’ s merciless ly time-en thused. Novalis realmed the night’ s brooding stillness beautify ing its un fathom able distan cmg light- source. Mozart’ s Queen of the Night voiced with all our light-threaten ing unresolv ing darkness es within. The truth may hurt e ven blood-re leasing But if it is n’t love- sourced it can’t justi fy its own self-decid ing aim s. Pink fashion ed that bright Oct obcr day se cured in his own sense of self-import ance braidcd-colored de signs of his knightly cost uming claim s. Rowing (for Ingo) those even- handed rhyth mic claim- routes for a still undecid ing though self-emerg ing finish ing line s. Question ing whate ver one will revive the i mage of that scarcely un known source. Does art at its best change the taste of the time Or is it a reflect ion of that transpar ent image on water or glass. A little top-of-a- tree bird listening to the still ness of its own si lently e choing voice. but that small child balancing her bicycle’ s eye-awared to a stead ily for wards-ahead. Dark room night-inhabi ted so that even touch seems silen ces awake moon-intent. Night wind s softly im mersing the darkness cs of time-spell. Contrasts (2) a) Haydn’ s adagios so intimate ly spoken and yet dis tancing us from the true source of its crea tive time lessness. b) Beethoven at the storm’ s center so closely per soned that we seem totally un able (even un willing) to loosen his grasp for getting us out. Morning mysterious ly awaken ing its mut ed light-be coming pre sence. Van Eyck with his (at time s) wing cdless an gel’s earth- bound beauty heavenly- jewelled. Seeing (as Shakes peare) with “the mind’ s eye” reveal ing even more of those un spoken si lences. “I believe (Lord) help my unbeliev ing self’ As if faith had become momentar ily losing its hold on the needs for our self-renewing. Abraham M. Bartholdy (Felix Mendelssohn’s father) Changing names as if your “higher culture” en abled you to deny your low ly Jewish ness The Hit lers will find you out what’ s behind the name hiding from that o ther-side-of self. Art only becomes arti ficial as self-anoint ed flowers when the scent’ s been taken out of their color’s per meating phras es. They lower ed the light s until those dark water s began slow ly rising through the tideless waves of our mind’s in coming depth. Sterile Nothing’ s more ster ile than a clinic chos en with arti ficial flower s and their accomodat ing self-fash ioning smile. Ours an agnostic age assuming a superior ity of earth ly claims yet vaguely mirroring only that pale image of a lost-pur suing faith. Heart-beat he rarely heard it speaking a loud but then suddenly real izing its on going not quite time lessly lifeconceiving presence. Ship-of-fools They could hardly remem her that final on-board call ing them to a common i tinerary’ s manned-full flying its own porten tuous flag ged skull and bones. 2nd Commandment (Moses) Those parent s creating their child ren in their own unfulfill ing image of a differ ing age and personed o therwise than they could scarce ly find-them-out. Guide-lines as there were no guidelines left (not even the 10 command ments) e mancipated from all but their self-pursu ing aim’s crea ting an allsurrounding and yet inde finable lone liness last ly from self. Goethe’ (Urfaust, Faust I) s Gretchen though pupp et-like too naive to be more than a child-like symbol outgrew her growing up lost from a self she’ d never real ly become. If Catherine in Hemingway’ s A Farewell to Arms was really his first love secretly fern inine-seclud ed Why were his afterward s-women only of those sporty superfi dally mascu line-type. The Great Gatsby It’s those specially sensed plac es that peo pie longer and lasting ly like Jay Gatsby’s glass palace or that dead-end no-place of death and se duction. The bright coloring s of these death-confin ing leave s but a mir ror of these sun-exposing days darkly self-conceal ing. This train’ s moving a head while leaving be hind as if time’s two- direction ing its us ually uncer tain future. Everything about her im plied a dull ed sense-of- being more there than any where else still-stand ed. Long stret ches of sound less street s that one could almost hear that dis tant echoing of feared pre monition s. Uneasy sleep as if those unremem bered dream s living a live his phan tom escape-routes. October cool clear and cleans ing its vast ly color ing-down ap parition that only-es cape in a sha dowless money- minded world of facts and figures that don’t even add-up right. sons seem to look through me to that other-side of self-de ception. s. Some per Two-levelled Arc we (then) two-levell ed person s The one streeted to surfacing artificial inclinat ions while the other most-al ways im mersed in substrated self-dia loguing s. This night’ s beyond its depth of see ing where so encompass ing that e ven dream s have lost their own sense-of-feei. Dark night’ s shadow less presence as if we’ d become en veloped in to the depth s of a per sonless self. Lights on suddenly across the way before the morning’s dawn awared me to how ar tificial our own sense-ofbeing’ s become. streams dy ing-down to that untouch able pulse of where si lence reign s. Cliche s that thought less process oflcvell ing words down to that bar ed image of their once minted-value. There may be other plan ets out beyond the reach of our knowing where But this one’s so myster iously guiding my eyes through its undiscov ered darkened-phrasing s. Through those darken ing tree s he heard a seldom un seen bird coloring its chosen sense-insong. This morn ing’s slow ly spread ing itself out as a spider webb ed in the realms of its own en compassing self. Dance-form These soft wind-express ive branch es interweav ing the leave’ s forgotten memories. Parallel tracks These alway s parallel tracks beyond the length of seeing where distance s would be defining them selves out. s lining these va cant street’ s frontal view of al ways self lessly watch ing. Fogs clouding his sense-from-view my sterious ly time-en closing. Inbetweened Man or woman she or he seemed some where inbet weened two- sided possi bly self-creat ing. These fog s so untouch ably measur ing the depth of those un seen distan ces of our s. When in the secrecy of night’s prevailing darkness did those first fresh ly-October frosts reaff irm the beauty of death’s unrelent ing source-claims. A long dis tant view of a lone per son spreading his shadow a cross a field of seed-down harvesting s. The train started as if from it self sound lessly ahead to a nowhere s of last ly finding- out. And what if they didn’t reappear Per ennials bloom ing each year same place col oring a rout ine of un changeable thcreness. Two identities that should have merged at the center Christian and Jew the one speak ing through those blood-streamed a wareness es The o ther all-of-a-person’ s more-than-that unrecon ciling. If “the pen speaks loud er than the sword” It must be a gilely adept sharpened to a time less sense-of-meaning Inked even deeper than that blood ed freeflow. These autum nal trees rising to the silent height s of their mysterious ly light-awak enings. He inhabit ed an official look about his wcll-groomcd cloth-through smiled an offhand though all-the-more steadfast appear ance. That little dog’s outstand ing ear’s thoughtful ly self-atten ding. Rachael’ s eyes diamond-crystal allur ingjacob’ s soundless ly fathom ed depth. He believed what he want ed to believe usually the best of a sit uation But he could become so critical ly intent that 1 couldn’t believe it was the same father who tried most unsuccess fully to grow-me-up in like- manner. Rain incom ing thought s however distant clouding o ver that feel of unresolv ing quietude s. Late autumn the sweet smell of smoke as this fad ing moon’s re mcmbrance of what can’ t quite be brought- back-to- mind. Where do those overreaching black birds die o minously cir cling the sky within their time- forsaking deathly pre monition s. Desk-light woodened touch of an elusive poem felt-down to form its pregiven size. Stone-sensed city absorb ing the per cussive sounds of shadow ing sensi bilitie s. For Rosemarie Ifbcauty’ s become its only proof speaking for itself a wo man must prove that worth of chaste-modesty ap pealing to the density of its truly intrinsic form. Can the night real ize its own successive waves of darkness es within. Carmen voiced from a differ ing culture and time-a wareness sang herself into those remote dream s of my fath er’s longing for a peace able rest. Can one hide as Adam and Eve from the naked life-source of one’s own shadowing being. No one else How much can one take Not wanted but al ways return ing to a lady who didn’t need her until there was no one else. Swallow ing one’s pride heav ier even than lumped-cereal causing a residual blockage of the main streams of one’s tenta tively reviv ing sense-from-being. Praying for one’s e nemies as Christ slow ly shadow ing those hid den depths of one’s own alter-ego. “Foolish consisten cies” implie s a self-con cealing gramm ar of one’ s own less-sel ective being. Mirroring Only the i mage of him self mirror ing back a no-way- through those glass facades as if he’d become only an image of where he wasn’t. Whisper ing secret ly under-brea th as shadow less smoke e vading the form of its very-being. Sabbath The candle s’ lit an in ner unbespok on darkness as if some thing more than silence indwelling there. The piano attuned to the needs of her finger ing a word less depth of self-discover ings. Do we all need a pro tecting an gel often a gainst our own will Wing ed from the realms of a higher sense-for-being. Only after the wind ing ways of a rivered self-becom ing could he realize an unseen fore ing the now of a not-o therwise-be mg. Audiences Was Haydn’s London more sophisd cated to his oft-self-iron ical wit than that star-studded one-of-our long-winded to finger- feelings and emotional over-lease. If “no man’s an island” why do we so long for an island-se elusion from a world that still re mains outside the realms of our predescribing landing- rights. Haydnesque as he realiz ed that theme’s intri cacies from e very end playing it so deftly self-conceal ing that it seemed even-the-more anony mously his. Flower s so soft that even touch melt ed into streams of dreamful coloring s. Dark beginn ings as the eyes become accustom ed to what they can hard ly envision reaching-out that seldom void of space less silen ces. Answering Tolstoy (5) a) The meaning of art’s deeper view of life’ s realizing the always known as it wasn’ t quite just- that-way be fore. b) The later Tolstoy oft religion ed his art beyond that invisible line of self-expressive ness. c) It’s of not-so-much what one has-to-say but more that way of saying it' s rightly- true. d) “L’etat c’est moi” Dictator s create their own people in to a self-siz ed kingdom as Tolstoy dimension ed his later art beyond the bounds of it’s own real izing where. e) Turgenev (1882) with his smaller yet precisely sensitive self-suffi cient art would have death-bedded the greater Tolstoy to a vow of much-the-same hardly again realized. For Rosemarie Love is be cause there’ s a continu ity of timechanging always that intimate sameness of becoming ours. If the blind could only dream in col oring those musical tone s escaping tenuous ly through their near ing flow. Puffed-up Exceeding oneself as a blowfish puffed up to its ever-expand in: self-in 'iting con cerns. Clouded She didn’t know which way out or e ven if there was an out of her cloud ed no-other place of be ing there - now. Gericault at the face of a nrad-killer could n’t eye-through his own self-re fleeting thereabout s. On Chinese Art (forNeil) (5) a) The fine ness of a Chinese bird slend erly touch ed to its coloring- finds. b) Chinese landscape space-reveal ing not only the seen but its in dwelling trails parencie c) Nudes often meant to glorify man’s almost celestial beauty Where as the Chin ese pre-dress ed ever-so-chastely- time-felt man’s decora ting ever-daily being. d) When the poet color lessly paint s and the painter word lessly in scribing a sense-unity of timeless appearan ces. e) An elite- aristocrat ic communal art that rare ly discern s the street- levels of the poor and hopeless ly disposs essed. Wheel-chaired Holding on to the wheel chaired her thought s around until she was grasp ing on to more than space could possibly al low. Crutches walk us their own rhythmi cally adept at sound ing the floor s out dir ection-wise. As Macbeth realized the woods merg ing into their dark ly foreboding- nearness as if time it self had been calling them successive ly forth. This clinic on the Starn bergersee a house of out-used body-parts as skeletal bones renewing their claim s of an arti ficial life-renewing wellness. It was death they couldn’ t face on its own terms Tolstoy Goethe and the o ther-such un willing to cede their living-claim s for a vast sense of self-super iority. Aging per sons heavy- down with their thought less mentor ies of an ir retriev able past forming dee per shadow s than their lessening life-feel could bare ly support. and faith not fame and renown can redeem a timeless sense of life’s in creasing ly self-fill fillment. God his part ner” (the last on a long list of business as sociates) left God little choice but to bless his daily deeds money- wise. Sleep over comes as death darkness mg even dee per than time can possibly realize. fog a ghost ly world phan toming un touchable silence s. This over flow of leave s immensing colored de signs of all-encom passing sound-depths. Dual-identity as a poet for the sel ective few of mind and more than com mon sensibil ity As a priest bending to Christ’s love for all and any who have been called to His redeem ing word. Lost in the crowd until he be came as the others indis tinctly sha dowing a voiceless sense-from- being. That late October light-invok ing moon mirroring the tides'of a darkly dis tant shore. “On the wrong side” She got“on his wrong side” as if he had be come room cd-through all those many door s that may have left him vacant ly center less. A lingeringfear (perhaps once dreamed through a moonless night) that he’d found the wrong way out and could n’t realize the where of having-been- lost. Time-touch When the fish dead-float ing their sur facing color s and the dc sert sound lessly increa sing its ster ile advance He may have looked twice in the mirror realizing his own a ging time- touch. On Chinese Art (2) a) as if each flower however common ly distinct scenting an inner life of its own. b) an art without sha (lowing or mirroring and yet so poetical ly refining a pre-given landscap ing one’s most intim ate interior preception s. Light-blue times finely dressed in wind-trans cending ap pearance s. Prevorst He didn’t know that town had been haunted But as they drove nearer a strange fear overcame him as if there would n’t be a way for getting-out. Writing in the dark though the lights hadn’ t gone out of these poems’ inwardly form ing their self-quiet ing reflect ions. Warren why should 1 write on poem when poems rights (writes) it self out. Through the morning’ s late dark ness these shadowless trees slow ly merging into their silent a wareness es. Sleep’ s imagin ary world voiceless ly a live to those sun ken realm s of ship’ s abandon ing treas ures. Family-tree The day they cut down his family-tree to its stump ed bottom ness He felt that lonely branchless personing its own self-being. Do the blind feel the touch of color ing through their own dark ly apparent presence. That slow- down time-of- life measur ing even the length of our indwelling moods though always reali zing those slow-timed musical ly spirit ual depth s. For Franz (4) a) Allegri's Miserere as if the need for giveness ans wering it self heaven ly-attuned. b) Piano Concerto 2 (Shostakovich slow mvt.) A change of time even of person Shosta kovich assurn ing an unlike ly pose of long-outdat ed romantic puritie s. c) Air (Bach, Goldberg Variations) Glen Gould out of his deeper/dark er instinct s for touch ing an almost numbed voice humming re sponsive ac cords. d) Romance in F (Beethoven) The “roman tic Beethoven” (heroics a side) attuned his violin to an almost longing sweet ness heaven ly aspiring. Autumnal moon darkly voiced through those forest- depths of im pending self- denial. Those self- secluded morn ing fogs my stcrious ly awaken ing their hidden in-be coming light- voices. November trees half- nakedly assem bling the rest of their death-taint ed leave s a broken army retreat ing from its down-fallen loss. Writing out of the darkness words lightforming as these tree s sunken in reverie s of dream-contemplat ion. Our jovial face-find ing doctor smiling a transcient cause of his own self-find ing satisfact ions. Something a bout her depth- imploring eye s insist ing a message not yet quite self-reveal ing. For Rosemarie Those most hid den of all treasure s may be found in the depth s of our own self-reveal ing love. “Words of wis doin’’ are most ly those we’ ve realized too late for living-them- live. Honesty can only fully real ize itself when love’ s at the true-source of its very- being. The dead should be seen as if they’re still living no bett cr or worse Otherwise we’re simply writing our own inscript ions on their uninhabit ing dead-down stones. Faith may be follow ing some as a stray dog without a master oft wordless ly unseen but then sudd enly reappear ing when we thought lie’ d lost track on us. Dream boat’s water s easing one silently in to the wave s of time less forget fullness. Piano Quartets (Mozart) The piano so intimate ly voicing Mozart’s own lyrical soul fullness. Medicin al rooms as artificial ly sterile as mannequin’ s clean-teeth ed touchless smiles. A hard night she had of it pain-shot through mem ories of an ice-down fall’ s long past a wareness es. Light-impress ive clouds streaming the horizon s across morn ing’s short- leased appear ances. Curtain’ s transpar encies moon-dimmed into their seclud cd interior realms. Such a beau tcous death these sound less color ing’s infold ing quiet udes so gent ly death-re leasing. Too late We came too late (time often offsets our own self-plann ing scheme s) Dead at the bottom of stairs not a word left only that blood less self-ac comodat ing smile. Sleepless nights as a boat drift ing from its moorings with only a pale moon to light its unknown course time lessly recurr ing. After his wife’s pro tracted dy ing He too left all be hind except an indistin ct but alway s plaguing sense-of- guilt. When Christ died at the cross a dark ness over came that land that no one ex cept Christ himself could fathom the depth of its unseen cause. Feelings Some as El Greco ecstat ically answer ing a special need within their own o verwrought psyche Or the late 19th cen tury bombast over-felt with its special display for feeling ness I per sonally pre fer contrail ed feeling s turned in ward spirit ually spaceinvoking. That small size spider hung to the wind dow’s finely woven hours-on-end time-holding his invisib ly-apparent appetite. Shakespeare the best of us after turn ing life from the ups to the downs in versely so retired to his little hometown an honored citi zen in a world quietly same d and for him (perhaps) seductive ly too real to be true. 40 rooms in rows-of- four black-wooded to a sameness of view as if the pat ient’s pain- length had also adapted to such par allcl intent ions. Down to the depth of that soundless deep a dark so complete that only those strange ly light-in habited fish could reveal the close ness of one’ s own touch-sense. of a house that could fulfill their loving need s for a fut ure together ness After years of plann ing and hard work It fin ished them off that em pty house and their love emp tied of all future mean ings. When Vladimir Putin a KGB man kissed those sacred icons even the heavenly a flamed candle s blushed- for-shame at the very-sight. Klee’s child-mind cd color ings as if its world a play-thing of possible future em bellishing retreat s. Romance (Carl Stamitz, 2ml Cello Concerto, slow mvt.) Some melodie s carry us a long as stream- expressing currents of their far-off continuous ly sound-call mgs. November 7 This day standing motionless there The trees half-na ked blemish cd at their coloring source Time itself rest lessly still ed. Keeping a live remembran ces with re curring half- forgotten i mages of the dead lively re newed. snake with its cruel and watchful eye s stares an innocent frog in its tracks So does the fear of death claim that all of what we are or could possibly be come. We’ve not the least of a chance a gainst that immortal e nemy of our s timeless ly prepared to strike at now or any other tenta tively with holding those lasting mo merits of our s. His invis ibly time was up That clock stopped o ver night couldn’t be rewound for even a soli tary moment left him help lessly alone. chance left the power of love and faith transcend ing the utter darkness of death’s blind mg claims on us. Love and death in the trag ic theatre almost as i identical twins perhap s (also) be cause love must kill our lone sensc-of- identity. When what one most ly wants to say over-bear ing the mean s of say ing it poem s out-ofreach. Those mount ains ring us with their im movable archa ic sense of a pre-history not ours but their dead-a lively ness. Does the fine light— transpar encies of im pression ism reflect the true na ture of French sensibil ity Or was it above all sourced by Monet’s a cutely aware eye-sense. At the Queen (2) a) Elizabeth (Sissy) hotel in Feldafmg heavenly four-stared admira bly silver-set an almost enchanted pre sence The wait ers dressed e veil finer than their Sunday best keeping watchful eye s on every dish as if a sacred offering from their hidden but apparent ly elabor ate god-send. b) an almost unspeak ably chosen place for the selective few candle s whisper ing a world that isn’t anymore its still rarely attired mo ments-of-now. Autumn brightly thinning down that na kcd appear ance of lost children (those ash ened fire s) that couldn’t be called back Homed. Haydn’s Sun rise quartet’s 1st movement as if the morn ing’s light a process of on comings until at the last fully claimed. A behind-the- counter girl who could only think in dollars and cents When she heard that pleasing ring ing up of a nothcr sale She mostly smiled some where deeply inside but scarcely no ticeable for other s. If Shakespeare’s plays (the best of them) are timeless ly always-now Why bring them up-to-a-dat cd one-sided rehearsal of minor pre sent day pro blems. Handel so robustly self-assured sturdily striding a length of never-a-doubt of saying it otherwise Rightly! Hein del needs no in traduction He’s there fully-so e ven before the beginn ing arouse s a sense of total complet ion. Dual-image That pain- felt picture with Ardon or Ernest waiting behind the clos ed-door as an errant child sternly to be audienced at my father’s law office Whereas 1 (just for a moment) my father’s only son really proud or what I didn’t e ver become. M. S. warned “you don’t have to say every thing” But when I did It hurt the-most those closest to my self-en deavouring tongue. Forbidden fruits as with Aesop’ s fox too high for-the-reaching Or those tasti est Faust and Gretchen to an eternal loss-at-self. The stranger It’s often the stranger who realize s the most DeTocqueville that French-aristocrat ’s deepest A merican guide Handel the tru ly “English” Purcell-succ essor Or as I’ve become in mind as in spirit “The last of the German-Jew The yacht (though not the most-mod ern-best) still luxur iated their smaller dis tanced need s for wavc-frccd thought- excursions Until one night they return ed a bit pretimed to find another fancier- full had taken their always docking-place. Does (as they say) “grass real ly grows o ver” the blood-ruins of per sons and pla ces still haunt ed with a depth of unrealiz ing life-view. Night-of-crystals the beginn ing of the end a warn ing to get out even if they couldn’ t stay either A brilliant-bright late autumn day with the leaves burn ing aflame higher than even death could poss ibly record. Living-low the time s more than apparent not a word too many as they’d find him out so secretly that he’d al most lost that named-birth ed sense-to self. The lost hotel (at Feldafing) a strange wood-terra ced window ed house six storied a late 19th century time-escap ing enclosur ed view. Full moon through half- barren tree s mirror ing a depth of express ive loneli ness. An off-center type He was an off-center type One had to rebalance one’s own sense-for-view to dis cover a straight ness about his walk- thought s or what ever he could n’t be direct ly exposed. Some women must be care fully watch ed-over (if not ex actly caged- in) because their feminine- softness may seem inviting ly-malleable for other men’ s use She was a singer be queathed with more inward vi brations than most could ac quire in a life-time But it was sure ly her vast ly alluding eyes that kept her off-track to a mostly unawared hus band. Answering Adorno If the Ausch witz fire s have still ed the poetic-beautifying ones as well That hate and fear remain un answered in a world that needs more than ever beauty prayer and a truth be yond that evil encom passing Ausch witz one. Holbein Junior’s Self-portrait at 45 looking us past its self-conscious willful strength fully self-acquired that certainty of future oncoming succ esses. Why that need to de fend (as with Klee’s self- satisfying middle-class bourgeois life-style) True artist s (not those so-success ful posing ones) aren’t outside the scope of trad itional value s but inside the hypocri ses and incon sistencie s of their own fabled o therwise ness. Phantom car- lights cruis ing through a deepening fog myster iously awaken ing those for gotten realm s of sunken pre-histor ic silence s. So many today(not only in Anier ica) with blank char acterless fa ces as a tree without its ringed-growth deep ly embedded Earthed! Change-of-guard It’s only when life isn’ t ours for- the-hold ing unknown hand of o thers as those flesh-blooded sur geons watch ing ever-so- carefully the continu ously for eign life- streams. Hans Holbein jr. His work so steady-secur ing form arti culating per son and the symbolic con tinuity of place But as Caravaggio passionate ly alert quick with the knife blood-a rousing. After season on the lake the silent shore listen ing to our very-step s as if e choing its timeless re solve contin uing. Anonymous Some person s will alway s remain anon ymously sha dows of them selves out-ofreach untouch ably sound less. Hurt-pride wounded to that untouch able source Swelling a pain inward ly unresolv ing. Some last ing moment s persistent ly-there sur facing those deeper water’ s restless ly wavc-in tent. Moralist s asserting a protect ive word-pow er Walled a gainst their latent adulter ous instinct s. (fit’s all-been-said before It lose s its said- for-being as cloth weared down to a thread-bare ness Those al ways-truths to be true to themselves must reword the feel of their being-so anew. Catharsis? Boxing the body out of its animal- led instinct s only in tenses those war-killing desires. Foy them (the Ditrers, Holbeins, DaVincis) penctrat ing the blood and mind of man sourced in the image of their crea tor’s will. “It all comes back to (haunt) us” (Strindberg) those ghost s of the un written past November ed through the fogs of in decipher able day’s e lusively re creating. Vacant sounds spac ing the depth of these wind-ooen i ing times. Fog-night ghostly appar ent that e veil our most chosen and intimate words hollow ing out touch evasive ly unreali zing. That unrecorded past Does even the unrecorded past retain a presence of its own as these used clothes my father gave for me Are they unknown to him inhab iting that unrecorded and mostly forgotten past of his. Life-blood If life’s in the blood-trans fusions a soulful part of my selfbeing Have I exchanged per sons secret ly reclaim ing the i dentity of another. Holbein ’ s self-portrait at 45 tight ly hard-boned visagcd one just as ready to the knife as the paint er’s intent ly self-defin ing. Holbein s Erasmus from Rotterdam closely mind-eyed the touch- feel of that scholar’ s invisible awareness. Minister’s house (Malmsheim) When we mov ed into our half-millenium old wood-up holding rever end’s house fully alive to our own presen ce as it took-us-in (as it had so many be fore) to its centuries of time-recurr ing faith-needs. The nightly return (Pforr 1809) A mysterious silence o vercomes the darkness of that night ly scene while a single can die awakens a brighten ed recognit ion of his un expected re turn. On those highest of mountain s where the snow never melts an in visible time lessness has taken perman ent hold even of our hand' s scarce ly touching for their forgotten warmth. “Falling asleep” or is it a distant but scarcely heard call ing that sleeps us in to those realmed a wareness es at that vacant other- end of self. Dialogued The portrait ist as the therapist rarely real ize that im pending space between what' s seen and that unknown looking in sisting ly back through them. Unexpect ed tiny flow ers touched-in-blue part ly hidden as if unrecon ciled to a gardened dom estic indwell ing. It was on an unmarked deserted road that a one-eyed stranger caned to the rhythm of timetelling him through to a fear sudden ly there that left him soundless ly behind. One friend left Only one friend left but he became more than a soul-keeper as willing al ways to hear to comfort a voice that reflected the depth of her own self-pity. On portraiture (3) a) It isn’t so much those objects defin ing one’e pro fessional inter csts or even symbolic inner accord s But the eye-depth the hand’s touching ex pressive ness that source those deeper realm s-for-being. b) The best portrait s are not those abstract- distancing ones at fear of exposing too much of one’s own self-express iveness. c) When a pict ures start talking back — She must have thought her late 19th century hat could impress my smiling at her time-hidden but so-seen pre sence. Personalized (2) a) Good novel ists can so personal ize the his torical back ground become s “truc-to-life”. b) Vermeer personal ized those objects of every day living that they be came as the facial fea tures of that not-so-direct ly observed. 5. 5. at sweet-six teen pretty bright Jewish and somewhat richly endowed with an alcoh olic once play time mother She knew what she wanted Him who happen ed to be Me a “lot-of- fun” kind-of-life child less but es pecially money- sound. Poems of remembrance (4) a) Holding on that tight- grasp of a mo mentary self- assurance The boat over flowing with unknown per sons twice-changed dir ections from a most-certain death if ever turning back. b) Danger a head he could feel that rousing blood though those warn- signals so distinct ly written in a strange ly foreign tongue. c) Firmly stanced at our back those shad owing figure’ s cruel in tendons We kept on shovelling the soft-down earth the depth of our own warmth-blooded impend ing death. d) That speech less train slowly mov ing through the fog-flood ing night- rhythmed through our always-now impending fears. The fear of winter Winter’s clos ing in our no-way-out the days shorter the nights dark er imprison ing in an ironclad fear e ver tightening its grip on our flesh-warmed and soothing softness es. A no man’ s elevator that seemed empty of where we were go ing as if it had been preplanned and we soundless ly ascending a vastly un known oast. 1 Those still unexpect ed moment s when time slows to the very-pulse of our selfintending quietude s. The corridor At first the corridor seemed short but strange ly enough the further we went the longer it be came as a snake wind ing itself out. For Rosemarie You’ll always continue to charm me with those softly melting though less-revealing touching eye s of yours. Some leave s not crumb led and dried-down to an exhausted life-sense have kept their color ings bright ly flowing through the wind’s soft ly evoking silence s. Does (as they say) “grass real ly grows o ver” the blood-ruins of per sons and pla ces still haunt ed with a depth of unreali zing life-view. Life goes on but death as well that end less cycle of time’s irre versible sense-flow. As we live on through the memories of others who die out that lasting linger ing moment of our self-in habiting sense-for-be ing. You can’t bury those innocent corpses deep enough They all keep co ming back un earthed to haunt your very-being. Her puppet finely dress ed up to but a transient image of her mirroring self But when it stopped talking back a mute silence permeated all her very- thought s and wish es. Only once did he real ize those hate-your- enemy- psalms When those self-de fying words mirroring the depth of his very-be mg. Big-stoned little stones When those little Jewish stones gather ing a parish of collect ive memorie s of the Big- stoned dead inscribed with less life fully decid ing words. Some of those perfum ed sweet-smell ing stores left him with that ethereal feeling of irn itating sugar ed light-wing ed angels. The sound s of waiting alert to each telling mo mcnt so dense as if colorappearing. A double-life She led a double-life as if the one wasn’t e nough for the other A two-sided street runn ing through her every thoughts in counter-dir ection s. She conform ed so much to her hus band’s other wise taste that one won dered if she continued to hear her selflisten ing aloud. He was dress ed to his own sense-of-import ance that brief- cased certain ed smile of previous (and most assuredly) coming accom plishment s. Child-sold icrs (some e ven seven) learning to kill out the meaning of their own having- been. Kafka so personal ized the depth of his own being hidden behind those shadowing self-decept ive facade s of his. All genuine artists (the uncommon few) suffer through the imperfect ions of their own limited sense-for-be ing- Last Sunday in the church year (6) a) The tree s bared naked ly exposed to that no where s to hide-from the depth of our overcom ing shame The leaves down as these un spoken words fallen from their very- source. b) Today Death reign s supreme worshipped with the flo wering hope s and remem brances at its speech less altars of enduring stone. c) Death’ s that most perfected form of demo cracy Daily magnetical ly pressing good and bad rich and poor to its eter nally stone- bred silen ces. d) Is death then the true source of these night- mared fear s That naked untold loncli ness mirror ing our face less final- end. e) Without prayer there’ s no hope left Christ lived but to die at the crossway s of his death-over coming bless mg. J) For Christ ians the loss of a close-one signall ing two complc mentary dir ections The one facing back to what we’ ve shared of life’s common-ground The o ther Christ wards heaven ly calling. 'a out fathered me His loom ing ever stronger a hove those faint shadow ings of his son’s guilty self-apprais als. The last defense The fear that words the last defense had failed him in the center ot an unspok en void the nowheres of not-being- there. Family roll-call (7) a) Two sisters She took the upstairs-way as Kafka to a roomed-in-world only hers but hard ly shelter ed against that other world down be low bottom ed to her un timely fears. h) She read so much of the best Henry James Jane Austen that her aloneness- world revolved around a soc ial setting foreign to Iter very-na ture. c) Uncle Morton that Esau-of- a-rnan big-strong-hair y-wooded-hun ter always on the prowl but daily dentrified to his do mestic in habiting domicle. d) Aunt Sylvia Morton’s unwoman ly aggressive darkly-beauti fying wife so competit ive even on her deathbed as if she’d been born only-yes terday. e) Barry their only son quarter backed his high-school team as a woman-wanter cat-incbriat ing his al ways shadow ing-selved mother. j) Grandpa Barney our self-made- man brought up his New- World child ren on a King Lear’s diet of do-what-your- father-wants or he’ll do- you-in-and-out thorough ly- g) Etta his wife so soundly-pack ed with do mestic goose rocking and rolling it down the ais les of Elvis Presley’s new est hits. Poems are not those press-the-button kind- of-thing These dry per tods expose one’s sap- down word-re surfacing needs. Rosemarie I’ll still re member that starless late-autum nal night The lake more the out side of dark ness extend mg even be yond its out lasting reach-for-sound. The deep sleep that leaves me soundless ly awake to recurring (though soon dissolving) images. That window ed light a cross the way sudden ly realized voiceless though e ver-watching through the vanishing night’s last moments of immens ing dark ness. Colorings That tiny bird branchholding its fragile touch ing my through- coloring s. Cain too marked- off but pro tected from an alien world mask ing his own While we Jew s long ex iled return ed to the distant land of our fear-felt call mgs. Reattuned? Is happiness (a true sense of fulfill ment) a blem ish from this self-suffer ing world of ours Must we suffer then into the very-grammar of our self-sus taining love- attune ments. This land dried-down its very-sub stance The trees thinn ed to their leafless shad owings Only the holding-touch of love can help rc claim this sapless land of our s. Those stain s the fallen leaves us with moment s of a blood less regret. Stone-by-stone When the city bombed-down to its very-being Nothing left but our bare hands rebuild ing its ex hausted-na ked frame stone-by- stone. After his illness (forlngo) only a dim- light left But even that-enough to realize the faint touching s of an al ways new be ginning. Is time run ning out on us as a ri ver dry-sea soned its bared-down currents breath lessly stepfinding. A seculari zed Kafka daily plagued with the fear s of his own insuffi cience s but lost from his my sterious longing for that always be yondness- light. He walked his late-after noon shadow increasing ly the more-becoming of his always lessening self. Those unex plored region s of the soul as vastly darkening as the deep est breadth of these late-au tumnal night s. That silent one all-be coming shame of one’s na kedly exposed bodied the fear of death’ s all-inclus ive claims on us. This late November day as a Span ish galleon lost-down to its sunk en silenc es. Buxtehude’ s Christ-bod ied passion as Rubens’ exclusive ly flesh-orien ted crucifix ion the in carnation of His one-of- us death-o vercoming. Exploring the heaven s for lost-possible plan ets expose s the more of our earth-bound God- insufficien ces. Frozen moments the tight-close ness of those feared but unspeak able word s. A higher church (official) I They’d like to be known as tolerant peace-maker s popular ly smiling their own in sufficient need of a cause the slight soft ness of their indwelling cheeks more than that steadiness of claiming outside the closed-in circle of their own self-appre ciation s. Human ZOOS (for Michael) Are those cagcd-in prisons really noth ing more than human zoos protect ing the ani mal-in-us from those fierce in stincts that might flare-up the impending night-light s of our own indelible fears. A higher church (official) // That harm less post-christian smile of his always pleas ant well-meaning salvation- wishes taming all of the dead ly instinct s that led Christ to the cross. Attacked She was at tacked in bright day light help lessly a lone Only the mute stone s cried out her need as many passed by attend ing to their own daily wants and wishes. The German church after closing its doors to the suffering Jews has now discover ed that Christ was one-of-them-Ours not theirs those un-Christian Israelis. The creed It’s that com mittment to a “holy church”es’ centuries ofjewish (Jesus) hate that un holies most of those “dev ilish” in stincts of mine. A warning If Christ’ s words and deeds are da ted then the spirit-of-the- times become s holier than the-spirit-of-His time less word-en compassing bei no-. Songs without words (Mendelssohn) I at time s so intimate ly voiced that we could hear our own breath rhy med to those self-enchant ing moment s of his. Songs without words II At other times his voice over came its own descript ive nearness and left us cliched to romantic ally overflavour ed send ment s. Waiting for what did n't happen as this bar ed-down late November landscap ing a recept ive need for the first snow’s timeenhancing complete ness. Unwanted advice (to a Nobel Prize poet) It’s only when words so seldom re fined that they realize their own in herenti dentity. “Dawned on him” It “dawned on him” as a subdued candle light ing the en tire scope of that room’ s inner dark nesses. Abbreviations In this strangely foreign world of unknown letter-ap pearance s We must blindly touch-our-way to a nowhere s of find ing those not-words out. For Rosemarie / It’s only in this aging world of a peaceful to getherness that we’ve realized the intimate voice of a timeless u nity. For Rosemarie // Those prett ily designed dresses of your hungup to their most intimate ly creative calling s. Ode a Rogier van der Weyden when space and the fa brie of sound realize a world of un touchable purity. Contrasts (2) a) Van Eyck may have de tailed that freshly-seen for its own sake quiet ing an appre ciably spaced still-life. b) Whereas Van dcr Wey den surface d a sense of God’s hid den but my sterious ly aware-pre sence. Christian Lehnert’ s poems keep-close to a person ally sound less obser vance. When the “always-now” had become an always- then as if time’s contin uity washed upon strange and uncertain ed shore s. On Kafka (4) a) That-way If what al ways seemed so unreal in Kafka’s word- aware vision ary mind act ually happen ed Or was what he de scribed only real ly so because he realized it no-other- way than his own. b) Wider-framed It’s often that deep ly personal subjective view of a world wider-framed than our own. c) Kafka' s so Jewish ly idealized view of marr iage only be came most tru ly his own while writing out his self-causing un fulfillment’ s sake. d) If Angst’ s at the heart of mod ern man It realmed Kafka firmly-first in its pro phetical ly tentacl ed grasp. The law God’s ulti mate domain evilly usurp ed as with Kleist’s Michael Kohl haas closed- out always be yond man’s unreacha ble cause. Saying what one should isn’ t saying at all Silence how ever remote ly speaks louder than such words. Rain drops touch ing the loss of leaves im itating col orless ly why. That chair in his office curved and ele gantly arm-holding him into a dig nity of self- assuming im portance. How many men use “the best years” of their wive s as a guar antee for their own self-satisfy ing appear ance as clothes fresh ly exhibit ed fashion ably display ed until worn-down for closeted-for getfulness. Those ghost ly fogs phant oming the wood’s dark ly reclusive ness. A lone Decern her apple hang ing hard for the cold taste ofwint ter’s aspir ing claim s. For Rosemarie The warmth- softness of your hand infolding the depth of my very-be ing as a rose sound lessly color ing. Does the tonality of our speak ing voice its innerrhy thmic accord s imply cer tain charact cr traits Or have we learned all— to-well to simulate the appeal of our voic ed-toned ap pearance s. He heard only what he wanted to hear So as his world grew ever-dark er and left him a no-way- out he began to hear noth ing at all. Cornered He forced a no-way-out on his longtime friend Cornered him to those speechless darkness es within. After her husband left her and the children grown-away into their own life-sense She started a new as if life itself was an ex changeable item She tried to real ize to-the-full its re newable down-payment s. Morning street-light s still stran gely awake to some scar cely decipher able darktime message. Christianed When life started closing-down on that many-roomed house of his light-by-light space upon his space less need for a never-relin guishing hea venly-more. Interval s of sound as the eye-levels of your thought ful voice spaceful ly within. No secret s kept ex ccpt those of these timeless waves origin ed from a con tinuing un known source. Special e vents as our “golden anniv ersary” may mark time out as those num bered stone s that often seem misplac ed in an o pen field of increasing forgetful ness. For Christian Lehnert Listen ing to the inner voice (as if we could hear what isn’t ours to know) the image of those soundless ly inert sha dowing s. Mood- pocms as atmos pheric paint ings realiz ' 1 ed-intcrior s of our own self-searching s. A rabbit’ s pre-deter mining taste-awareness of a carrot’ s self-defin ed calling s. ing and still recurring i mage of that tree-snake’ s taste-in volving a predator bird’s in creasing appetite’ s-fill. Sourced (in memory Charles Seliger) Is color sourced in the visual- mind’s need for inher enttouch-finds. Recallings The sapless cause of these naked ly defining trees as ag ing men’s de sires for a spring’s re calling. Knight-devil-death (DUrer) Only then did he real ize Lost in a wood of all-surround ing fears without e veil the slightest light-sense to finding a way out. Mirroring That distant panoramic view of the heavens be ing swallow ed up in to black-im mersing void s that left a shallow ing depth somewhere in his heart’ s contract ing range. “Copycat” I don’t really know what cats might be copy ing perhaps those almost soundless secretive paw-ways that echo ever-so- slightly its repet itively approach ing nearness es. Outsourced She felt the fields flow ing her a way beyond the grasp of holding those elusive mo ments secure ly-tight. V Quartet (Bart6k) From the stilled and intimate to the continu ous over flowing of waves immens ing their un realizing height s. Op 76,5 (Haydn quartet, last met.) Tongue-in- cheek All-starts—at-once circusing life’s puls ing-interlude ’s through- moment s. Op. 16,5 (Haydn, slow mvt.) Ifheaven could be told earth ly-bound then here a transform ing beauty landscap ing unimagin ably peace ful quiet udes. Renaming what doesn’ t change what’s al ways been there before word-disguis ing their re newing sense-appeals. Buber’s “spiritual Israel” im plying a state beyond the state’s al ways-need to secure the real border s of its very-being. The poem continu ously dialog ing that inn er inescap able world at the darken ed-depthed o ther-side-of self. Late fall’ s quietly de ceptive warm th as some persons we’ ve known mask ing a pleas antry of arti ficial appre citation s. Dr. Wallner’ s Freudian over-shadow ings silen ced me in to the dead- dream-fears of his noanswering length-of- being. I only re member Dr. Lander’s slight limp and the Godlike picture of Sigmund Freud domin ating much of his lesser presence. Two Flemish masters (2) a) Van cier Wey den’s lyri cally dress ed-color ings the in terior world of each and every self-designing personed-ex pressive ness. b) The brilliant ly preform ing stillness es of Van Eyck’ s surfacing realms of self-contem plation. He follow ed his own lesser (but still prevail ing) instinct s as a dog leashed to the scent of its elusive self-find mgs. Too much King David given too much of his wanting-for- more overstepped that invisible line out side even the expand ing claim s of his pre- Messianic kingdom. That half- moon focus ing the early winter heaven s but still signify ing the blind- dark-side to our own sense- of-being. Gryphius poet of the 30-years-war reclaimed his life’s re newing source in the tight ly committ ed sonnet-form and through a faith tower ing above that daily rhythm of death’s con tinuous har vesting s. There We were there to be ignored as desolate ly alone as the island of their choice Delos rock- stone and barren-space. Weimar and Buchenwald so physical ly near but spiritual ly distant' ing two world s of the mind and spirit and that of hate and viol ence But near er than ever- realized The young Goethe (“Prometheus”) emancipated man from God setting those other spirit s loose Man as the niea sure-of-all things that then measured out the cruel ty of his own very-being. Pioneer days (in memory WiUa Catlier) (2) a) the unlimit ed call of all those un fathomed land s soiled to the very close-sense- feel of our most intimate being. b) Pioneer days when sun moon and stars so a lone in their heavenly escape ur ging a prim eval light upon our first-sens ed time-rou tes. Question ing Goethe For your love and nature have replaced the need of a God whose es sence is love and whose nat ure is the creating source of all that’s be ing- This dried- down fall as some per sons so emaci ated that e ven a boned handshake echoing through what was left of their lifereclaiming person. Why moral ists are a dultery-prone Because they position themselve s so as a word-wall pro tecting a gainst their instinct ual other wiseness. The right-rev ercnd P. seld om right in his wife’s pre-order ing eyes re dressing those half self-bal ancing words of his into a tottering Moses-like stutter. String-Quartet (Ravel) Light-sense stream ing shadow’ s banners of sound less express ion. Clarinet Quintet (Brahms V' mvt.) A flow ing express iveness silver-sens ed escaping e ven time’s im ploring sha dows. The viola’ s mostly lost-in-the-midd le enchant ing-seductive ly calling us to its renew ing harmon ic pleasure s. Op 64,2 (Haydn's Quartet -finale) Haydn’s presto- finales each voice redis covering its own express ing a togeth ernes as a shimmer of light’s just- revealing. On Brahms’ Clarinet Quin tet’s incolor ing harmon ies as juicy-delectable as the taste of ripen ing fruit’s in herent touch- values. tasies faint ly through these still ed shadow ings time’ s recreat ing oneness- accords. 2"d Advent Winter’ s cool raininvoking shadowing s of those summer-bird’ s coloring- renewal s. Rebuild ing after-the- war’s almost total ruin s down to those very- depths of a vanquish ed evil-em pire. “Egged-on ” They “egg ed him on” perhaps be cause he was the immovable “hard-boil ed” type or because they’ d “chicken ed” him now surely “egg ed-on” for signs of cour ageous be havior. Between 2 worlds (4) a) An interior- poetic world freshly re vealing sound image and thought and the “real” world that holds me tight to its always ground- based fear s. b) The Jew in my endanger ed look-out Towering those ghett oed breach ing walls And the Christ ian Churched in what re mains close-now to my very-being. c) between the truly invisible church con cealing its Christ-chosen ness And that physical ly exterior one walled-high against its callen- message. d) between the Herbert ian culture- designing conflict And the word be yond the word’s time less remote ly-calling s. Judging through the half-blind eyes and sense of o thers Or the cycloptic focus of one’ s own very self-reveal ing. Unchangeable We knew they’d never change-course Holding-on to what’s alway s-there while intently look ing for what daily isn’ t. This wind’ s darkly in visible mess age as the flow of wave’ s unknown but alwavs-intended course. In memoiy C. S. He kept his secret ly paper ed impress ions (where I may become more found- out) in a safely-secur ing relia ble place. When a poem becomes those alter nate route s of unrecon ciled dis tancing s. A money-thinker She was from childhood on a money- thinker evalu ating person s and purchas es in dollar s and cents Even check ing out gift s she’d re ceived not ac cording to taste or choice but to their very-re levant value. It rained so hard so long that we could hard ly decipher our own voice retreating into the shadows of those unheard silence s. “We Three Kings of Orient are” a hymn of such distant-longings that even “the field s and fount ains” sustain ing their e ver-search ing for the star-anoint ed king. Karl Stamitz es’ pre-Mozart ean clarinet concerti al most as se ductively fluent and yet pre-dat ing its epi gonal sound-describ ing presen ce. “Its our turn now” she said (as the eld est of their ever-lessen ing family) Her mother bur ied from the sovereign age of time’ s always but ever-slowly pro ceeding s. “O come all ye faithful” ’s resound ing call to the ends of time and of the earth’ s expanding spheres for life the real-life of Christ’ s now-becom ing in vis ible king dom. The Jewish- Christ mark ed with the Star-of-David His people’ s oncoming death-blood of their se cretly with holding re demption. The Call (4) a) through the night’ s compelling darkness es that watcheyed train tracked to its sensed-distanc ing sound s. b) That finger’ s boned but voiceless ly pointing its no-where s-else than at his so in nocently-ap pearing there ness. c) The calling of St. Matthew (Caravaggio) Even that room (symbol of a rest lessly await ing world) closed-in to its no-ways- out from Christ’ s magnetic calling. d) L’appcl (Gauguin) Was it her hands or those intell ing eyes time-evoking still un folding distance s. Too explicit What become s too expli cit as a mor alizing sermon or a Lessing- inspired play leaves its word-bound audience too small below such over-an swering height s. Exposing (3) a) Love’ s insist ent need s for an in spoken near ness through those ag ing years of occasion eci time-sitt ing aloneli ness. b) From secretly exposing That suddeneyed fear of being read- through what ever safely enclosed her from se cretly expos ing. c) St. Anthony (Griinewa exposed to a wilderness of fears in devilled with more than his lessening cause could hold. Alone with the per soned dark ness of that night-consum ing house. Hefelt the quiet ing foot steps of his nearing that elusive self-image. The land breath lessly still waiting for the gentle ly consuming touch of that first enlighten ing snow. Seldom even in that 16th century parish house could he sense an a wareness of all-those-o thers who’ d lived-this- house-through. Prodigal Son? (forM. S.) His mother in vested more of her self less love than the mea ger returns of her son’s so otherwise- personed. Faith is not that kind of a possess ive thing As love it must be con tinually re born to satis fy its tenta tively real izing claim s. It was never outspoken ly said but always se cretly im plied as if knowing had become the more of a speech lessly there. Kafka’ s light-o pening door but always closed from entrance Not-only an unapproach able God but even bet ween us you-and-me. Over night in a strange house an always- closed behind-glass book case But the more I asked the less they could find of that al ways-lost key. Those eye s their glar ing-stare turn ed me off a round a cor ner until my feet could re find their correspond ing time-ac cords. 9th Plague in Egypt (Handel) “A darkness came over the land” as if the Pharaoh and his peo pie would be plagued with the depths of their own self- shadowing s. Those andante s of Mozart that continue a flow of never-ceas ing streamlike sensibil ities. Come-on It was a com mon come-on that ad tor a penniless safe and e asy way of im proving ... as those kind s of indraw ing spider- webbed look s caught in their no-ways of possibly getting-out. Short-timed Little boy s with those freshly-a wared look s self-remind ing me as if time had been condens ed to that short-distan ce between. Being watched They knew they were be ing watched through that narr ow light of their from-es caping step s. German portraiture ca. 1500 (Munich, December 2011) (11) a) discovering the true beauty of man’s reali zing his God-created like ness. b) Woman with a Bonnet (Augsburg 1517) a lyrical port rait pre-dating Corot’s young lady embedded in herself-en closing quiet tudes of light colors open spaces reflect ing what only her withhold ing thought s could real ize. c) Holbein’s Jane Seymour so vastly de corated that even her eye s seemed-like jewelled-in flection s. d) Holbein’s famed “doubleportrait” so o ver-filling that room with symbol ic object s that more than-define the depth of their posed-from-being. e) Diirer’ s “Wohlgemuth” unrelentless ly unveil ing the blem ished face of his aging thereness so unbeauti fyingly true- for-us-all. /) Diirer’s portrait of Jakob Muffal (1526) at once so realistic ally room- near expos ing the inner realms of those abstract silences of his. g) Furtenagel (“The painter Burktuaier and his wife”) a great master piece from a little known “minor art ist” reflect ing the mirror cd sameness in life as in death of the oneness of true-marriage. h) Why did Diirer three- finger his father’s not quite cloth-enclos ing appear ance. i) Wolf Huber’ s all-sided studies of the same person ing him to a unity of selfbeing or sim ply implying the many per sons beyond his outward appear ances. j) Portraiture Arc the sym bols of their outstanding position more of those persomng hands and face or paint erly attribut es excessive ly self-de fining. k) Seeing and after-see ing as if those port raits were be coming a con tinuing part of my own self-reveal mg. Time-eluding The room not enter ed by still being there time-elud ing. She had the look of once-being-young Dressed that cause in to an express ive time-simu lating remem brance. Listening through those bare and shadow less sound s ofa lone but branch- defining bird’s com pelling an almost echoless re spon se. Mozart’ s violin con ccrti between the virtuos ity of sound-sensing and those most intimate ac cords of selfcomposure. Schubert’ s 5th as if “I’ve-heard- it-before” and the melod ic flow of time-forget fulness. Heavy snow weight ing my thought s down to their earth-sustaining whiteness es. Pink’ s hung his longest through-flow ing self-en veloping stocking while Christ masing his own apple- red prepara tion-cheek These fount aincd parks summerly dressed-in their usual pleasur able green ness Now dried-down vacant ly haunt ed wind-si lences. “Count your blessing s” Pink merr ily adding them all-up that sidewinding smile of his longdated type writing e ver so care fully-chosen blue-ribbon ed. For Rosemarie Those love ly designed prettily dressing me into the more of that always-yon. ForH. B. A room at the top of the stair’ s each up wards prolong ing steps c choing 35 years of time’s recept ive thought fulness. Is life then an upwards-way of reali zing a dimin ishing sense of timeful completion. High school reunion s however time-recall ' ing- the usual out side of those always selfreserving in tuition s. Otherwised What I still remember of those o therwise high school days were those long- extending corridor s even be yond my own self-increa sing shadow mgs. Marked-off or down (4) a) A 2"‘‘ start as if that almost lifeconsuming one could sim ply be e rased as that 3rJ grade black board water ed-down with out even a trace of its chalk-mark ed remind ers. b) Lot’s wife as so many German Jews marked even with the star ever-holding to the end cing richness of Sodom and Gemorrah’ s time-decay ing calling s. c) Boundaries He sensed the boundar ies of his pre-given and limited domain as if one step be yond that still unmark ed line could release all those haunting fears mhabi ting the depth s of his very-being. d) The Lord’ s biblical time-scheme can’t be plac ed in man’ s marked-down time-ensuing calendar s It’s more like crossword puzzl ing all those darkened closed-off' non-answer mgs. Humanism? If man’s not the mast er of him self still plagued with those recurr ing vices of lust hate and power-in tent How could he then be come the last ing measure - of-all-thing s. Karl Stamitz (bom 1743) caught right in the mid die between Haydn and Mo zart blending his own lyri cally concerto- voice and peppy Haydnesque finales with a symphonic assurance only a true- master could claim. 3 Romances oboe and piano (Schumann op. 94) Music with an unknown message deep ly shadow ing its ex pressive time-invok ing loneli ness. Pruning a tree however finely-finish ed is like cutting these poem s down to their source-growth a wakening s. The sub way here in Munich cloth ed in strange and foreign dialect s inhabit ing (each his own) separ ately uncag ed moments of this multicultural zoopark. Looking a way from what one shouldn’t see Tensing the moment s of this always-now presence. White house-paled impression s faintly re vealing this winter’s color ing bareness es. Portrait of a Young Man (Hans Siiss von Kulmbach 1520) A sadness as a web spread ing from his eyes and in concealing face to the fineness of his cloth-felt self-in habiting ap pearance. His dream s left him soundless ly landscap ing a famil iar but yet untoucha ble sense- from-being. For Norman terminal ly sick yet without a self-expir ing date He lives each day as a marked-man as those Jew s starred to the final ity of life’ s ultimate exposure. Diirer’ s best portrait s so secur ing a self- assurance of pose and person that (however much one tried) it couldn’ t have been otherwise duely-felt. Death ’ s always been so se cretly self- conceal ing-shy (c veil hidden from its own intent) to meet one’s ncaring-end face-to-face or even more directly-so eye-to-eye. Baldung Grien 3 years im pressed with the unmistake able stamp of Diirer’s so- directly no-ways-out took to the side-ef fects of re-editing those most fain iliar scene s so u n fore seeably and strangely un known. 4 Thought-poems (December 15, for Inga and Solvey) a) Music (the how of its being heard) more than the conductor- performance Or his own night-causing transient mood But the before and after of its own self-re vealing sound- length s. b) Should me judge a poli tician by what he’ll be come in those always-chang ing histori cal tide s Or by his closer-felt Now and no-where-else. c) Those epoch s of great art with its inter-play of more-than-one depend on a master-teach er or else they’ll soon time-themsel ves out. d) Friends with an a genda or caused by a common togeth erness Friend ships rarely sail under an unchange able flag-de signs. Lonely face s (mainly men) Hopper-like staring their vacant thought s through the glass reflect ions of long- lost irretrie vable time s. His motive s were main ly masked e ven from him self as if dialogued from an everpresent though apparent ly otherwise- self. The black bird left its vaguely dis tinct impress ions on these snow-felt fields of wind-breed ing forget fulness. Purifying needs (3) a) After Auschwitz the world needs even more a beauti fying poetry sound-sensing the wind’s mo mentary timetouching ex pressivc ness. b) a light snow scarce ly purify ing our need for a Christ mas of Christ’ s always be coming. c) Keat’s timeless truth of beauty’s re curring need s to purify the depthed-interior s of our mostly dar kening self. Alena’ s lost friend s at such an early age unquieting the very-be ing of her most-inward self-imagin mgs. Grammar (for Warren) as the choice of dresses re mains naked ly uninhabi ted until re dressed in a personing self-dialog ue. Her way As she al ways had to have it her way’s like a one-way dead-ended street. She always need ed to tell you “the truth” as if she’d become totally in habited with what couldn’ t have be come other wise. Handel’s Messiah (last mvt.) slow amen- fugue as pil grims ascend ing securely be yond the final ity of this world’s only ground-levell ed short-time ed truth s. “1 know that my redeemer liveth ” (Messiah-Job) intimate ly so person ally-express ing Christ’s universal triumph over those self-de termining fore es of sin evil and even death. Cranach’ s portrait s lacking the spiritual ly intense-realism of Diirer while poetizing the touch of hair-flow and land scaping those inter ior worlds of personed- place. One doesn ’ t speak bad ly of the dead because they may still be listen ing in for the after time’s un easing rebut tal. So-much-of answering (Robert Frost) The ambigu ity of lang uage opens out those so-many road s (even the dusty-obscur ed ones) in habiting the many I’s we’ re becoming so much a part of. Many-jlagged Friend ship’s differ ing flags hoisting a loft the chang ing color s of our so many person ed selved-be ing. When the mind run s quicker than the word’ s catching up on its self-reali zing phrase s. The eas ing snow felt-down soft remem brance s of a time scarce ly brought- to-mind. Symphony HB 44 (Haydn last mvt.) It began by being voiced for an oncorn ing rush of repeated through-find ings excess ively thereabouts. Piano Concerto 9 (Mozart k. 271, slowmvt.) as sadly transform ing as a snow-touch cd world at the depth of its heartlevelling pulse. Those uncommon ly strange sound s of religious-medieval music bringing back-to-mind a world turn ing about its own far-away but religious ly nearly-felt axis. Those bright- resounding sun-snow re fleeting ac cords of win ter’s more gracious ly sensed-at tuning inter ludes. Living a self-appeal ing nightlife of e qually attun ed artifi cial light s went out to those inner dark nesses of time-fore boding fear s. Children’s games (Brueghel) as if they could winter-down from its death-threat ening pulse to their own gameful ly prepared pleasantr ies. Suddenly in late Oct ober snowed-into those endless field s of time’ s accumulat ing thought s. Identities The Jew-in- mc histori cally bound to that his tory of high-rise ghettoed fears While my-Christian- being remade through Christ’ s personal guide- star. This bare ly touching grasp-of-snow as the light- fragrance of firstly- felt spring flower s. Space only realize s its own-true-self while con cealing those oft: unspoken thought s of our s. This house at dark voice lessly alive to its shadow ed self-be coming near ness. So many Renaiss ance artist s have por traited Jacob Fuggerthe rich that he’ s become rich ly endowed with those many facets of his all- too-familiar facially- tensed selfcertainty. This winter ed dawn raised from the very-depth s of these snow-accumu lating still nesses. Some key s while flee ing for their very-life are better lost or at least no long er fit for their refind ing lock. Early morn ing snow re fleeting those untouch ed moon-felt silence They were perhaps marr ied to anoth er cause less love-binding but more se parately self-satisfying realms of each-his-own. Why gift s when He has given all E ven those orna mentally expos ing “gifts” of the orient al “kings” only symbol ic of the long ing forgive ness of His kingly-priest ly realm. The Lord’s all-knowing will and our less-sublime freedom of choice Two roads with only the one invisibly marked-off. Snow the child hood of our time-awaken ing dream s. Light-sensings (Advent poems) (2) a) Night- snow field ing the wind s impercept ively lightsensing. b) Winter ed snow-se eluding dis tances lightsensing him transpar ently through. Oboe Quartets (Vanhal) If music can so de light enchant ing even the lesser train ed ears with its appeal ing-persuas ive fluenc ies Why must it also be considered “important”. Gracean apollonic beauty refin ing man to his god-like light-conceiv ing origin s. He wanted so much to say what he want ed to say that at the end only si lence could answer that self-plead ing unquiet ing voice of his. If after years of soli tary conceal ing at a sudden al most unheard moment of what she al ways knew but never dared touch the bloodstreams of his very-be mg. Is the still life silence prevading Van Eyck’s paint ings inward ly contemplat ing a newly-seen fully realizing world or be cause God’ s holy but also unseen presence can only be answered in reveren ce of his humanly un fathomable being. His unfind ing future wife needn’ t assemble the inquiet ing beauty of a woman ly warmth- poise but created more out of the i mage of his mother’s word-rush ing emotion ally inhabit ing idea-sense. Advent-Christmas poems (5) a) Has Christ ianity really changed the world Only the few his true disciple s and their mapped-out world His sc cretly-known encompass ing plans. b) The world’ s still at war with it self Even “The Church” consum ed by world ly lust In justice reign s now as al ways before Yet there’ s a hope as singular as that single star that guided those foreign “king s” to a new and always becoming. c) It’s only because we’ ve failed as Jews as Christian s that that single star the e ternal light of this world in a heaven s full of our over coming dark nesses. d) If “the sun also rise s” it's be cause this self-cnclos ing darkness has been clos ed-otf as that original chaos tamed to its limit ed hold on all our self-embracing sins and weak nesses. e) Our always-now It’s only when that Christmas becomes our always-now that we can celebrate that Christ mas through Christ’s timeless ly self-re vealing. When “the church” no longer triumphant ly brought-down-to-size realizing the Jewish ness of Christ’ s calling to a world (e vcn its own) foreign to His very- cause. Some Christ ians so heaven ly climbing the daily hold of that Jacob’ s ladder that each private joy might disconcert them from that final so opportune goal. He wrote that inner-tensing si lence out in-to word s delineat ing their truly calm ing source. The Marian purity of most medieval Christmas songs Where as Christ (e ven in en fant-human form) untouch ably holy almost un reachably beyond man’ s earth-bound but ascend mg light- tonalit ies. Some women so dominate their domestic ally caged- in husband s that even the appropri ate key couldn’ t quite fit just-right for all their emancipat ing endeavor s. like rain drops shin ing na kedly-held trees to a shimmer ing remem brance of their first ly-felt leaf ed-touching beauty an cmpti ness will soon overcome our inward being realized in light and purity and sense. These pearl- S. A silence before Christ mas withhold ing what could n’t be said as if our words could imitate a my stery of div mely-felt calling s. Christmas Oratorio (Bach) (5) a) Bright ly-recurr ing heaven ly-aspiring faith-intona tions but then with soft ening voice s a unity of God’s purify ing glory and mildly in voicing human spirit. b) How often must these arias insist on repeat ing a message we’ve long since become fully intoned for. c) For Bach father of 20 children exploring a mother’ s inward ly caress ing gentle ness more than the fin est of music al-phrasing d) The choral s answering with one voice for and with us that inexpress ible mystery of The Lord’ s flesh-and-child-like be comings. e) Each instru ment individ ually invok mg its own musical faith-tonali ties. Her penetrat ing look ed right through the flesh and bone of his very-being louder express ed than any words could possibly realize. “We’re all a like” he meant cultural ly liberal Jews espous ing mainly social caus es with a feeling for the poor though per sonally mostly rich ly endowed We’re all that-alike he meant I wasn’t. Christmas the birth of the “new fain ily” in Christ now more be holden to that old same-fleshed fam ilies’ drift ing slowly a part. At sea They’d never been at sea before with those wide vistas of wave and wind but now-felt the chang ing tides of their direct ionless course. Christmas Story (Heinrich Schiitz) es’ simplici ty purity and biblical word- closeness of this mid- 30-years-war s longing for a lasting peace only with in the true realms of Christ’s birth ed-through redeeming pre sence. Israel survived centurie s of Christ ian misuse only because “The stone death-breed ing Law” kept it perpetual ly alive to the hopes of a messian ic return. That bare- open space windowed a winter ed empti ness of light-touch ing precept ions. The Jewish- Christian s (Book of Acts) insist ed on “The death-bring ing law” for pagans to firstly be come Jews foreseeing centurie s ofjew-hate again st the basis of their own life-renew ing faith. Israel fashion ably replac ing those out- used forms of impending Jew-hate “The Church” again on the wrong side of its world-redeem ing message. The Adultress They kept their dis tance but with stoneeyed revenge against their own illicit- desiring s of their law-defying ends. “Sticks and stones can break my bones but words” eyed with evil-in tent can strike even deeper to the heart of our own very-being. Christmas Eve Night-beginn ing days (in the biblical sense) can birth a light even intens er than the morning’ s self-reveal ing bright nesses. O Magnum Mysterium Victoria’ s richness ofsound-depth wave- encompass ing spirit ual here-be yondness. Wed fees’ s highly color ed spirit ual music mad rigal-like interchange ably through-pulsing har monie accord s. Christmas alone inhab ited by an un fulfilling though self-encompass ing past mer ging into the future now if no- wheres-else. Raphael our retard cd son rare ly focus ing a music al intensity of voiced-through pre sence. This old wood 1938 knotted with the pained- scars of its freshly cut- through blood-scent. This Christmas tree [for my Rosemarie) personal ly no-wheres-other than ours ornament ing a touch ed-precision of intimate light-aware ness. Candle s forming the inward flow of her hands muted in light—as cending pre sence. “ When the saints go march ing in” left me through a very unsaint ly if milit ary impress ion of I’ll keep my dis tant-waiting for the quiet of His soli tary call. “O come all ye faithful” A multi-cult ural credo-hymn calling together what’s un known even to itself their Bethle hem-longing s. At the zoo (9) a) Flamingo’ s long-length preception s feet-fme ly aspir mg. b) Tropical ly multicol oring fish swimming through a soundless sense-of- case. c) Kangaroo s hop-jump ing an earthlike touch- and-go. d) Lady-lion ess’ eye-o pening her comfort able winter- sleep. f) The “wise-old- owl’s constant ly look-out appearan ces. g) Penguin s astute ly form-em bracing their mili tary-like upholding as signment s. h) The tiger rhythmic ally prowl ing the stripe s-length of his instinct ive forebod mgs. i) Giraffe s measur ing those a bandoning heights of my untold si lences with in. j) The broad- sided expos ing rhinocer os like rereading those hidden page s of ancient history. More Man knows that he need s more Some where beyond his mind’s steadfast grasping through those last ing tonalit ies of mood- persuasion s. Thought- poems need to be clothed in the rhythmic coloring s of their self-evas ive but tin denying ex posure s. These day’ s increas ing bright ness of win tor’s finali zing death- calls. That lone street-light dream-flow ing through its fathom less being. These naked winter branch es dead-a live to their timeless-breed ing light-call mgs. A lone lithe bird branch-touch ing its wing ed coloring light-sourc es. These out seeing in win dows reclaim ing time’s voiceless release. Not even this less-in voking celes tial moon could dare en lighten these down-bred win ter’s immers ing dream s. Learning the lesson s of history is like re reading its used-out yellow page s. Can one o vercome gen eration s of recycl ing other wise exper iences. Aron wording him self back with that lithe ness of foot-from those years of va cant express IGiiIiCSS. Alena at 10 color ing in those phases of life-see ing what’s becoming that elus ively-now. A Raphael Madonna so softly and secretly inre vealing His many facial certainty of that way and no o ther. He was a one-place one-time kind of per son no extra s or expend able aside s as a wo man without frills or rib bons but as much herself by simply be ing there. Checked-out A poem must be diligent ly checked- out its col ored shadow ings the pulse of its rhythmic ap peal and if the way of saying it’ s no other wise than that. “Keeping up appearances” so much thor oughly so un til she began to appear o therwise than that keeping-up- for. Car light s sudden ly illumin ating these tidal realm s of dark ness. Playing with fire Most child rcn should know that play ing with fire’ s a forbidd en game for those burn ing needs of self-find ings. Night only happen s to help in tensely des cribe the origin s of light’ s persist ent calling s. Still-standing So dark that I couldn’t appear the house across-the-way must have been there’s no proof stillstanding? Unnamed person She forgot his name but remember ed so distin ctly as if it was yester day still more about his unnamed person. Tunelessly Recalling what happen edthen (those year s of child hood’s forgott en memories) As if time had forgott en as well self-releas mg its time lessly-now. Caught- fish’s brill iantly design ing the sur face of the face of its darkening deep. New Year (3) s celebrat ing die e vcr-morc of those lost and irretriev able time’ s past. New Year s and termin ably ill (aren’t we all) a feared his time was running it self out. New Year s still too young to e ven realize the full-leng th of a year’ s becoming as those blank- opening page s indelib ly marked to their only-now. He neither game nor Friend-orien ted never fully realiz ed those child hood year s roman tized for his child ren’s hard ly growing out to a world (much to that other-side- of self) s really being s. My father’ s “long long trail a winding” in to the Ameri can dreamed out without c ver really facing-up to those un mirroring self-inclin ing persuas ions of his. How often so many good- wishing par ents living through their child ren’s so o therwise ness from their-own A bleak December day’s flurr ied-snow neither here nor there as some duly-awared child ren quick to their so-be ing other wise. He always had to be the-best But when he failed his driver’s test a third time They found him at the bottom less pit of that stoned-down quarry. The snow birthed through those silent- distant cloud s leaving be hind only realms of their untouch able remembr ances. A snow- certain day brightly ass uring its time-holding presence. These slight birdlike impress ions in snow barely deciph ering their own sense-for-touch. It’s those fore-felt feelings of what’s not certain ly known that awaken world s of imagin ary sound-dis tancing s. Some friend s (however distanc ing in time or even space) remain close to their al ways having- been while still-being there. Meeting them the first (and perhap s) last time more like chang ing trains at mid-stop to those cur rents of dif fering dir ection s. Only pain can consume the more of us than we could possi bly have realized before. Re-creat ing in mind of those pla ces we’ve been no more moods a ton ality of dis tant express iveness. A. B.’ s shutdown world of self-ex elusive ly withhold ing. A house freshly pain ted either realizes its once-sense-of-be ing or cover s over more than it could right ly clarify. snow con tinuing its deepening life-breath ed silence s. He was there in the back of the car because he’ d been there for almost a week But now only by sha dowing some still darken ing paths of my self-con cealing past. Snow breeds a self- creating si lence the way of first flow erings as it time had just discover ed its true blossoming s here. Blood-cries It was the poor humble disinherit ed that they crucified with Christ Have their blood-cries been heard on the way for Israel’s com mg redempt ion. The rain s came o ver night washed the last remnant s of snow a way those lost memorie s of an un told ever-dis tancing time-sense. It’s too late now for The Church to cleanse itself of a guilt gnawing at the very-basis of its own sense-for-being. Time-alert Sunrise January 1 2012 not a sound left in sight he’ d slept through those soft pillows com forting a lingering fear always there but now time-alert. How much (or little) do facial ex pression s person an unseen (but rarely account able) past. A lost poem (perhaps one amongst many) either part ly conceiv ed but never written-through or lost in a crowd of o thers (as many of us) trying in vain to find- back that spec ially attuned voice-of-its own. How many interchange able faces however separ ately color ed can we claim as our-own gen uinely person ed. Talk shows talk them selves out until words become as cheaply sover eign as a monarch sell ing his king dom for a single horse. “A cheap forgiveness” (Bonhoeffer) The ever- smiling church always well- wishing attun ed to a common place forgive ness at the cost of its own unreconcil ing guilt. Smiles (5) a) Those a siatics smiling their self-conceal ing secret- access. b) Those prepar ed papering- smiles she brought to the threshold of her await ing client s. c) Smiling as a seductive means of en ticing their more or less innocent prey. d) The natural and good smile of present ing oneself pleasing ly there. c) Smiling at being amused but not quite to those swell ing boundar ies of hearty- laughter. Cello Concerto 7 (Karl Stamitz slow nwt.) The emptied well depthed with more than that un speakable sadness could hold. A moon less night irretriev ably dens ed as a for est held-within the scope of its self-en closing dark nesses. Can I freshly ex perience those flesh- enduring Ren oirs or Degas’ finely-felt dance step s knowing now their anti-semet ic anti-Dreyfus antipathic Some thing miss ing as a cross-word puzzling a vacant-empti ness or a room with out your be ing at the o ther-side of feeling my self complete ly there. Lois at 78 from all sides lessen ed from her tenuous hold-on-life Loss of friend s and health’ s declin ing certain ties. Doris at the age of Lee’s death (81) widow ed to a glass house of self- reflect ing loneli ness. Poetry books by DavidJaffin 1. Conformed to Stone, Abelard-Schuman, New York 1968, London 1970. 2. Emptied Spaces, with an illustration by Jacques Lipschitz, Abelard-Schuman, London 1972. 3. In the Glass of Winter, Abelard-Schuman, London 1975, with an illustration by Mordechai Ardon. 4. As One, The Elizabeth Press, New Rochelle, N. Y. 1975. 5. The Half of a Circle, The Elizabeth Press, New Rochelle, N. Y. 1977. 6. Space of, The Elizabeth Press, New Rochelle, N. Y. 1978. 7. Preceptions, The Elizabeth Press, New Rochelle, N. Y. 1979. 8. For the Finger’s Want of Sound, Shearsman Plymouth, England 1982. 9. The Density for Color, Shearsman Plymouth, England 1982. 10. Selected Poems with an illustration by Mordechai Ardon, English/Hebrew, Massada Publishers, Givatyim, Israel 1982. 11. The Telling of Time, Shearsman, Kentisbeare, England 2000 andjohannis, Lahr, Germany. 12. That Sense for Meaning, Shearsman, Kentisbeare, England 2001 andjohannis, Lahr, Germany. 13. Into the timeless Deep, Shearsman, Kentisbeare, England 2003 andjohannis, Lahr, Germany. 14. A Birth in Seeing, Shearsman, Exeter, England 2003 and Johannis, Lahr, Germany. 15. Through Lost Silences, Shearsman, Exeter, England 2003 andjohannis, Lahr, Germany. 16. A voiced Awakening, Shearsman, Exter, England 2004 andjohannis, Lahr, Germany. 17. These Time-Shifting Thoughts, Shearsman, Exeter, England 2005 andjohannis, Lahr, Germany. 18. Intimacies of Sound, Shearsman, Exeter, England 2005 andjohannis, Lahr, Germany. 19. Dream Flow with an illustration by Charles Seliger, Shearsman, Exeter, England 2006 andjohannis, Lahr, Germany. 20. Sunstreams with an illustration by Charles Seliger, Shearsman, Exeter, England 2007 andjohannis, Lahr, Germany. 21. Thought Colors, with an illustration by Charles Seliger, Shearsman, Exeter. England 2008 andjohannis, Lahr, Germany. 22. Eye-Sensing, Ahadada, Tokyo, Japan and Toronto, Canada 2008. 23. Wind-phrasings, with an illustration by Charles Seliger, Shearsman, Exeter, England 2009 andjohannis, Lahr, Germany. 24. Time shadows, with an illustration by Charles Seliger, Shearsman, Exeter, England 2009 andjohannis, Lahr, Germany. 25. A World mapped-out, with an illustration by Charles Seliger, Shearman, Exeter, England 2010. 26. Light Paths, with an illustration by Charles Seliger, Shearsman, Exeter, England 2011 and Edition Wortschatz, Schwarzenfeld, Germany. 27. Always Now, with an illustration by Charles Seliger, Shearsman, Bristol, England 2012 and Edition Wortschatz, Schwarzenfeld, Germany. 28. Labyrinthed, with an illustration by Charles Seliger, Shearsman, Bristol, England 2012 and Edition Wortschatz, Schwarzenfeld, Germany. Book on DavidJaffm’s poetry: Warren Fulton, Poemed on a beach, Ahadada, Tokyo, Japan and Toronto, Canada 2010. “David Jaffm is a scrupulous weigher and weighter of words — by which I mean that a poem is, for him, always a matter of collaboration with the true spirit of the language. Every word is given its value, neither more nor less.” Edward Lucie-Smith “David Jaffm’s Preceptions is a fine book. Jaffin’s poem, slight on the page, entice, engage, amuse. Yet their brief touchings often reach wholeness, and they are poems of philosophical consequence out of keeping with much of modern poetics. The poems catch perceptions in the act of happening, to be, the short-line verse appropriate to what becomes.” Paul Ramsey, The Sewance Review “Jaffm’s poetry is as ‘modernist’ as abstract painting while still poetry in the traditional sense, whose purpose is the verbalization of basic human experience and whose form derives from a serious exploration of language ... it is remarkable what depth of experience Jaffm manages to relate through his severely limited vocabulary and imagery.” Victor Terras (Brown University) “Mr. Jaffm uses words with a real fineness of diction which emphasizes a characteristic understatement of emotion. One recognizes a cultivated sensibility. He adopts a theme and mode which one cannot help but admire. He writes very well indeed.” the late Norman Holmes Pearson (Yale University) “Jaffin’s Through Lost Silences offers a rare display of manifold poetic variety. Succinct and challenging enforcers of new insights and deeper understanding, his poems soar in far higher realms than those of prosaic description and rational analysis ... There is sincerity and conviction in Jaffm’s crisp, multi-sensory poeticisation of ideas. Existential and philosophical shapings of language, simple and complex at the same time, draw out the true nature of his chosen subjects in an original way overwhelming the faint echoes of older poetic traditions and leaving behind profound aftertaste of experiences lived through for the first time.” Edward Batley (University of London) “David Jaffm is a master of the restained but purposeful statement. If his poems do not have quite the briefness of the haiku, they have a good deal of its light-dark inflection and rounded perfection of form ... Jaffins’s poems almost always give an impression of light ‘light reflecting light’. The fact is that if one wants restraint and elegance, he will find it in abundance here. Jaffm’s subtleties are, in short, dazzling.” The Library Journal on Conformed to Stone ISBN 978-1-84861-287-7 www.shearsman.com ISBN 978-1-84861-287-7 978184861287790000