I don't understand the current insistence we have to allocate ourselves a singular identity, without reference to the subtleties and unknowns we all have within us. Life is so much broader.
Gardening, you will have come to see, is only part of what I do. I dislike being stigmatised with any one identity.
I am not sure if I'm a poet - only because, to me, it's a blessing that can be conferred only after some significant achievement. I have not managed that, preferring to be unrecognised than to be known for what I'm not. Achievement itself is utterly useless unless it has really been of benefit beyond any immediate acclaim.
He sweeps the floor
with hands over-used.
Days later,
he opens the door,
expecting no-one there,
no-one bold enough
to tread with certainty -
and is unstunned
to see there nothing.
And so, without a plan,
but only footsteps resolute,
he leaves the floors
he's swept
and all their endlessness.
Whereon, on his way,
he meets another wandering,
who, wandering, had never given up,
but had nowhere else to go.
Faisal Grant, 10/12/2011.
Small and simple minds request people to fit neatly in their tight and designated boxes?
ReplyDeleteA wonderful post to read...
ReplyDeleteApologies I havn't been on here for a while.
Hello Faisal:
ReplyDeleteWe are always attracted to people whose thoughts, interests and lives are outside the conventional and are multi-layered. This makes, we feel for friendships which can develop and deepen over time as complexities are revealed and intimacies shared. Preserve us from the narrow minded and single-tracked!!!
We love the lines,
'who, wandering, had never given up, but had nowhere else to go',
since they reflect, for us, the infinite possibilities that life in all its richness and diversity can bring if one just stays open to its possibilities.
your comment about the expectation to define ourselves as a single identity resonates with me. I never know what to say when I meet people and they say: What do you do? i don't know what being a poet means, but I am sure you have a poetic sensibility that you express wonderfully. And I love the poem downstairs as well.
ReplyDeleteYou could say that, Diana!
ReplyDeleteAndrew, nothing to aplogise for. I haven't been too blog-active myself for a while. Thanks for your comment.
Hello Jane and Lance,
ReplyDeletethat's a very positive response indeed, and one I find very stengthening. Thankyou! Yes, not to close yourself off is the key, when it looks like the walls are closing in!
Being open makes life more enjoyable but also has something to do with forgiveness and a greater understanding, I feel.
Thankyou, Catmint. Yes, that old 'what do you do' queation is a killer, and usually leaves me lost for words. Like, I walk and I talk, what more do you want? Well, we actually all do more than walk and talk, that's the thing; none of us is a role.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff as per usual Faisal.
ReplyDeleteThanks Billy. How's Wigandia going?
ReplyDeleteWigandia is doing as it pleases..I wander through it and that is all!
ReplyDeleteKind of nice to have it that way.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, by having many interests, you're a man who has an artistic spirit, Faisal.
ReplyDelete