(c) 2010 Anna Montgomery

mindful inquiry processes mirroring
eros as an act of imagination
sounding an eternal song of bittersweet promises
our invitation to the sublime

delight is its kinetic drive
lack its animating catalyst
expressing desire in oracles and riddles
Aristophanes’ closest possible union*

existing at the edge of the actual and possible
a liminal being pines for embodiment
craving pomegranates and blue lotus blossoms
travelling arabesque corridors of self-awareness

we lovers define the boundaries
pictorial and phonetic glyphs
capturing thought in intimate arrangements
phonemes and diction engage wild twists of cognition

vocalized syllabary refined to acoustic components
sacred vibrations joined in fluid succession
our mouths formulate the symbols
breath conducts seductive influence

written pages the conductors, energy arcs distance
ornate signifiers, rugged paths trace emotion
bas-relief, each line a tactile sensation
memorized by the nuanced flourish of hands

semantic impertinences, Aristotle’s epiphora*
metaphors poured upon the surface of poetry, etching passageways
these epiphanies define our pilgrimage
encountering the nature of love

Notes:

Mnaomai: 1. To be mindful, to have in mind, to direct one’s attention to 2. To woo, court, be a suitor.

Aristophanes: No, obviously the soul of each is longing for something else which it cannot put into normal words but keeps trying to express in oracles and riddles. Suppose that, as the lovers lay together, Hephaistos should come and stand over them, tools in hand and ask ‘O human beings, what is it that you want of one another?’ And supposed they were nonplussed, so he put the question again: ‘Well is this what you crave, to be joined in the closest possible union with one another, so as not to leave one another by night and day?’

Aristotle’s epiphora: ‘To give names to nameless things by transference [metaphora] from things kindred or similar in appearance’ is how Aristotle describes the function of metaphor…There is in the mind a change or shift of distance, which Aristotle calls an epiphora, bringing two heterogeneous things close to reveal their kinship. The innovation of metaphor occurs in this shift of distance from far to near, and it is effected by imagination. – From Anne Carson’s magnificent book Eros The Bittersweet.

Linked to dVerse Poetics prompt hosted by the talented Claudia! Please join in the fun at http://dversepoets.com/2012/01/21/poetics-b-%c2%a6-o-%c2%a6-r-%c2%a6-d-%c2%a6-e-%c2%a6-r-%c2%a6-s/#comment-8475