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When research becomes enlightenment.

11/30/2014

6 Comments

 
Picture
I recently spent another long and languid afternoon with a close friend of mine. Our schedules are such that we can only meet once a month, so we cherish these hours spent in lingering conversation.

I’ve known this friend for several years, yet it was only the other day, after we had said our goodbye's, that a certain aspect of her being began to edge out all my other thoughts, and it would not let go.

And as I ambled down the street, my focus was not on the words that my accompanying daughter was speaking, nor on the crossing lights as we approached.  I heard her and saw them, but only dimly so.

As soon as we got home, I began to flesh out that meager snippet of an idea, removing the odd bits and refining the rest.  Within an hour or so it had become a rather sweet new poem about my friend.

The next day, while researching an idea, I came across this: “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” Michelangelo.  That was not …  Wait ...  What?

There was a distinct click in my brain, and the burst of an “aha” moment hit!  His approach to intuiting the promise within a monolithic block of stone reminded me of how I “see” the formation of an idea emerging from an ethereal mass of words.  Wow!

Epiphanies are such wondrous things, especially those that hit one sideways, like an abrupt, loud noise off to the left while you’re diligently focusing straight ahead.  I understood this kindred artisan.

Yeah, okay. I’m no “Michelangelo,” and I doubt that I’d recognize him on the street, but a connection was made, and it is helping me to distill my conceptual framework, which is key my work in verse.

And now, here is that little poem:


But Mary Does


We’re chatting in a small cafe
Where windows keep the gray at bay
And as I answer with a shout
The hiding Sun comes bursting out
As though on cue and so we laugh
No other patron gets our gaff,  
But Mary does.

A story that is often told
Is easily dismissed as old
No longer fit to entertain
Or even countered with disdain.
So few will once more hear that tale
With interest, and smile as well,
But Mary does.

Then by the jilted clock we spy,
That several hours have sped by
With total disregard of we
Who could have bantered endlessly.
I know not many who would stay
To talk an afternoon away
But Mary does.








Image: oi.uchicago.edu

6 Comments
Margaret
11/30/2014 01:20:35 pm

That saying by Michelangelo makes sense to me. ~nods~ And that is an amazing poem. I loved it.

Reply
Janice T
12/7/2014 02:23:03 am

Hi Margaret. Yes, his remark struck me the same way. I have a notion that there are many such block floating about, each waiting for the right impetus to reveal its true shape. I am so happy that you enjoyed this poem! Thank you for telling me so! Janice

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https://www.ukbestessay.net/research-paper link
3/15/2020 07:43:30 pm

Research is the mother of all progress. I know that research can take a long time, but that is just what we have to do. If you are not a person who can enjoy research, then that is your problem. You have to become able to go and do research on a daily basis, that is just my opinion. I hope that we can go and start doing what it is that we can to do in order to make the world go round.

Reply
Janice T
7/31/2020 07:00:42 pm

Having an encyclopedic interest in just about everything engenders me with an avid, ongoing predisposition to research. However, I do appreciate your response, and will keep it well in mind. Thank you.

Suzana
12/7/2014 07:45:59 am

Very nice poem! And what I find interesting it is its mixture of old victorian rhymes with something, I don't know yet to define exactly, but obviously very modern message, a slightly contradiction that increase the pleasure of reading and visualizing it. Cause Mary does!

Reply
Janice T
12/7/2014 08:51:20 am

Thank you Suzana! Wonderful insight. I do tend to write about contemporary ideas in a neo-Victorian style. I am so glad you get what I was doing there. Thank you for letting me know! Janice

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    About the author:

    I've written many poems over the years.  This blog is a preview of my books: Echoes, Neo-Victorian Poetry (April 2013), Echoes ll, More Neo-Victorian Poetry (May 2014), Echoes lll, Even More Neo-Victorian Poetry, (August 2016), A Compilation of Echoes. (September 2016), and When None Command (April 13, 2019)

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