*****

Recorded Reading (3:23): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3ob4t4ug72xj69w8d3d6v/this-is-the-passion.mp3?rlkey=vuunb8ykaj1795jxe0e22bavy&st=ovr4legs&dl=0

*****

this is the passion

this is the passion
with which the deafening beethoven
pounded his piano
the passion
which saw gandhi
dwindle away into just skin and bone
this is the knife-edged, unfulfilled passion
which set christ to writhing on the cross
the passion of life
which springs up through cracks in the cement
and endures the footsteps of the passing masses

this is the howling
which followed the early ones
into the lions’ dens
over the prairies
across the bulwarks behind the lines of the enemy camp
which spiraled down with each kamikaze
and finds its home underground
in the deep damp woods or city sewers
howling
among the workers
of all the past, present and future
resistances
of the world

this is the knowledge
guarded with the suffering silence
of untold generations of plain humble wizards
unrobed, ascetic
free in their bondage
wand’rers of air
the burning liquid rolling in waves through their veins
the burning
of human torches
who have yearned to be free
and who would not be silent
because the words rose up
and spilled forth from their tongues like honey
the draught
written of all through the ages
requiring a pure vessel
for its ultimate
volatile
essence

this is the passion, this
must be the passion
nothing can stem its flow
not my four year old kid’s hippo slippers
not the cold heavy metal
of all the machinery of all the world
not my own tender smallness
not the desire for something to eat or drink
in this godforsaken place
where i happened to be
when this happening found me
not even the shortage
of paper at hand
since it after all
can still be scratched
in the dirt

this is the connection
this is the substance
this was the message they all tried to get across
this is the desire
for the life that was ours before time began and
could be again
this is the intoxicating
possible
vision

this is
and always has been
the passion

*****

The poet/editor of this website is physically disabled, and lives at a fraction of her nation’s poverty level.

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