....long light on a brick wall....
...here, look: see the bright blue flame? Sparkling, tidal - a holy thought formed, carved out of light and air? It is the mother of mania, and the first breath a baby takes, the cry that rises from the womb. It is the fuel that dissipates quickly, but burns hot, burns hard, propels the mind and the flesh to heights and depths that they cannot usually reach alone. It is a god, and supplicant; it is angel and devil, ghost and golem, throbbing voices and the echoing chasm of a cathedral choir.
This morning: the roof of the day is gray, cotton, quiet. Yet it does not muffle the flame; it is the white line on my longest horizon that muffles the flame, that cups its hands around it, promising not to let it go out...but the flame is stifled, starved...a white blossom dropped, drifting. Needing to be gathered, nurtured for its short life, sweet, soft. Round, the skull of a moment, a mound of snow, the limb of the moon, the last look of the sun, the edge of a light bulb, the pages of a book.
So, sing on, oh Muse. Sing on - the cotton will melt to silk, the light will fade to velvet, and perhaps the flame will burst forth; not burning the hands but purifying them, clarifying the minute, the hour, the thought where the genius, the madness, the story begins.
This morning: the roof of the day is gray, cotton, quiet. Yet it does not muffle the flame; it is the white line on my longest horizon that muffles the flame, that cups its hands around it, promising not to let it go out...but the flame is stifled, starved...a white blossom dropped, drifting. Needing to be gathered, nurtured for its short life, sweet, soft. Round, the skull of a moment, a mound of snow, the limb of the moon, the last look of the sun, the edge of a light bulb, the pages of a book.
So, sing on, oh Muse. Sing on - the cotton will melt to silk, the light will fade to velvet, and perhaps the flame will burst forth; not burning the hands but purifying them, clarifying the minute, the hour, the thought where the genius, the madness, the story begins.