A favourite poem by a favourite poet

The Swimmer's Moment
Margaret Avison

For everyone
The swimmer's moment at the whirlpool comes,
But many at that moment will not say
"This is the whirlpool, then."
By their refusal they are saved
From the black pit, and also from contesting
The deadly rapids, and emerging in
The mysterious, and more ample, further waters.
And so their bland-blank faces turn and turn
Pale and forever on the rim of suction
They will not recognize.
Of those who dare the knowledge
Many are whirled into the ominous centre
That, gaping vertical, seals up
For them an eternal boon of privacy,
So that we turn away from their defeat
With a despair, not for their deaths, but for
Ourselves, who cannot penetrate their secret
Nor even guess at the anonymous breadth
Where one or two have won:
(The silver reaches of the estuary).

A Favourite Poem

Contraband


by Denise Levertov


The tree of knowledge was the tree of reason.
That's why the taste of it
drove us from Eden. That fruit
was meant to be dried and milled to a fine powder
for use a pinch at a time, a condiment.
God had probably planned to tell us later
about this new pleasure.
We stuffed our mouths full of it,
gorged on but and if and how and again
but, knowing no better.
It's toxic in large quantities; fumes
swirled in our heads and around us
to form a dense cloud that hardened to steel,
a wall between us and God, Who was Paradise.
Not that God is unreasonable – but reason
in such excess was tyranny
and locked us into its own limits, a polished cell
reflecting our own faces. God lives
on the other side of that mirror,
but through the slit where the barrier doesn't
quite touch ground, manages still
to squeeze in – as filtered light,
splinters of fire, a strain of music heard
then lost, then heard again.

An Extraordinary Sunset

For me, God's Beauty = Hope. This recent sunset in Steveston, BC was such an extravagant display of His Creation. Like Fall's vibrant leaves or the view from a mountaintop, God's Creation makes me feels such joy, so much hope.

Opinions

Differing opinions make me happy. I am not always delighted by an opposing point of view... especially if it comes from my daughter when she decides she doesn't want to move when already late and really in need of some hurry. Wishing I could intravenous some of my adrenaline into her then! ;)

But, it is good to have someone else's perspective.

Maybe, it's the knowledge that I don't always have to be right. Or, the challenge that comes from another's well-thought out rebuttal to a yet unchallenged idea or belief. Whatever the case, a differing opinion can bring me to a place of change or solidify what I already believe as true.

I like people. I like knowing what others think. How they tick. At least, a bit of how another mind works, thinks, feels, believes.



We are all so different.
I love colour. Bright, vivid hues make me happy! My cousin looks at me in disbelief and shock when I show her my kitchen's multi-coloured chandelier. I can see her thought processes: "Wow! That's tacky!" When I visit her home, I discover that she likes sage green and soft soothing tones of brown and beige.

Personality, age, cultures, loves, hopes and belief systems. We are so varied. Each of us individual. Yet, so similar. It's interesting that our differences are often what keep us apart.

Accepting those differences, which isn't the same as approving of every difference, is what brings us together to find those things that we can bond on - the common ground... and the not-so-common.