Apr 2015
(NaPoWriMo Challenge: April 1, 2015)
To search for, interpret, focus on, or remember only information that confirms your preconceptions.
The solipsismal cataract, a knotted bog of shelter,
sortings of the world floating in translucent drops,
validations dissolving through your skin like
evangelical fumes: what you remember is the red flag,
the red vase, the ironic rose—because red is the mast and mascot
of your soul. Your own blushing village of Versailles—
built to suit your towering, powdered wigs. The brain works
if the ego allows. Go to the Grotto, Marie,
and listen to the flaxen minstrel, speaker for the wise
old catfish. She is sitting to catch her breath, strumming
her catgut and similes as you stand inhaling the darkness,
remembering each side of a cloud and lampshades
on the heads of beautiful things. She brings you visions
of Wurlitzers and coffee percolators, things you wouldn’t know
how to look for if you’re looking too hard. Remember your reds
until they fade away into the black of the grotto.
Come back out and try again.
To search for, interpret, focus on, or remember only information that confirms your preconceptions.
The solipsismal cataract, a knotted bog of shelter,
sortings of the world floating in translucent drops,
validations dissolving through your skin like
evangelical fumes: what you remember is the red flag,
the red vase, the ironic rose—because red is the mast and mascot
of your soul. Your own blushing village of Versailles—
built to suit your towering, powdered wigs. The brain works
if the ego allows. Go to the Grotto, Marie,
and listen to the flaxen minstrel, speaker for the wise
old catfish. She is sitting to catch her breath, strumming
her catgut and similes as you stand inhaling the darkness,
remembering each side of a cloud and lampshades
on the heads of beautiful things. She brings you visions
of Wurlitzers and coffee percolators, things you wouldn’t know
how to look for if you’re looking too hard. Remember your reds
until they fade away into the black of the grotto.
Come back out and try again.
30 Poems About Suffering will be based on the list of cognitive biases found on Wikipedia coupled with my mindfulness practice. I’m going to try to do an initial “bias” stanza and following it with a “mindfulness antidote” stanza. I’m going to try to throw in something from today’s news to show the daily-ness of these (which today is the news of Joni Mitchell in the hospital).
