I wish I could shimmy like my brother Shiva

[mat james]

Wish I could shimmy like my brother Shiva
(At Coorong Beach)

I wonder why
I always think of death
over here
as the waves break?

Contemplating
sitting on crunching shells
feet splayed, I wonder why
I process my life’s passing

..some spiralling distance
cleanses me of caring

and the breakers break
in a foaming rumble rolling wide
a shimmy-ing sheet
surrounds my feet
then back in slick retreat
to sheath beneath
the oncoming ROAR !

Waves break
and again I wonder why?

But this daydreaming
contemplative cleansing
casts me off
a sinker in the surf

one tiny spiralling cosmos of a shell
in my open palm
Big Bangs me off
off from the death-knell
..shell-shocked
..sand-blasted
by a million billion beached souls
shoaled in a crunching consciousness
to a powdered memory
of shell cracking clarity
to THERE !
Knowing why I wonder why
re-cognising
among the ever present roar
of Aum, I Am, I Am Aum...
as the breakers brake

my shell flips
fragments
and is cast
at the Breakers' feet
salient upon a shifting dune
this cemetery of symmetry

..and the breakers break
in Almighty Roar
Aum, I Am, Aum, I Am Aum
and a Yahwah wind whips
my Atman soul
past the beached dunes
beyond the Milky Way's dusty memory
as the great Breaker,
Shiva, Destroyer, unraveller
brakes.... out of my soul ,
shudders into "the dance"
and shimmies on

...back
in slick retreat
to sheath beneath the oncoming
I Am, I Om, I Am Who Am, I Am Aum
Aumph....Aum


Matj

[Steven]

Hi Mat,

The answer to the question posed in your poem could lie
in the capacity of the surf to enable a state of trance for many
people, and seemingly you. In that state, important matters of mind may surface.

Nice words, Mat: "shell cracking clarity to THERE !" -- Double
entendred and of a "ah ha" revelatory moment that is consistent
with trance-based revelatory experience.

[mat james]

Nice words, Mat: "shell cracking clarity to THERE !"

Steven

Thanks Steven. I love that line too.
It is such a pleasure when a line comes out that "works".
And your comments about the trance-like power of the surf are right on.
It is a cleansing sort of noise. Some noises irritate, but never the surf, for me. Mat

[KjeXXXer]

..some spiralling distance
cleanses me of caring

I liked this line! The rest for the most part went right over my head.

[mat james]

KjeXXXer

The rest for the most part went right over my head.

I just got it! Ha! Ha!

[KjeXXXer]

Care to enlighten me?

[Byron]

Mat, have you seen the film, Contact with Jodie Foster?

In it the Universe and grains of sand figure directly on who we are, where we are and where we came from.

A couple of phrases stick in my mind from the film...
"If there's no-one out there it's an awful waste of space," and "small moves Ellie, small moves."

You have presented us with a piece which encapsulates these processes. We are small but there is no need to hurry as long as we can see ourselves in a greater drama, as it unfolds/enfolds around us, beneath us and over us. The mantra takes the reader along and through your poem, to give an endless quality to your thoughts. Thanks for the piece/peace.

[mat james]

Hi Byron.

Mat, have you seen the film, Contact with Jodie Foster?

No, I haven't Byron. It sounds interesting and up my alley, so to speak.

"If there's no-one out there it's an awful waste of space,"

we can see ourselves in a greater drama

Yes. That's what it's/life's about, for many of us. Obtaining that vision/vista and sense of "being" the view.
I suppose your little poem reminded me about "being" in this moment. And my rather long poem is about "being " in this moment and moving ("small moves Ellie") into That Moment.
It's all fun.
Matj

[Byron]

Hi Byron.

I suppose your little poem reminded me about "being" in this moment. And my rather long poem is about "being " in this moment and moving ("small moves Ellie") into That Moment.
It's all fun.
Matj

Which little poem please?

You must allow for 'senior moments' with me.

Could an alternative title to your piece be namah shivaya 'homage to Shiva?

[mat james]

Which little poem please?

Byron.

Hydra Sunset


Time on our hands
Retsina in my glass
Souvlaki on its way
Warmth on my skin
Laughter in the lane.
Hydra Sunset.

I was refering to Hydra Sunset. It is very "in the moment".

Could an alternative title to your piece be namah shivaya 'homage to Shiva?

Byron.
I suppose it could.But-----
My title is a parody of the title of a popular old jazz tune entitled, “I wish I could shimmy like my sister Kate."
Somehow I felt that it fitted the key words and ideas. (The Dance of Shiva and the jazz-dance style that I assume “shimmy” refers to. I could see Shiva "jazz-shimmying" across the lapping, tremulous sunlit water which was shining/shimmy-ing along the shore. It was this dance of Light amid the roar of the surf that danced the poetry into my mind. Reflecting on the destructive energy of waves rolling onto the shore and at the same time the cleansing and new beginnings that unfold through that action brought me to the Hindu Deity, Shiva -The Destroyer, the "Great Breaker" among the breakers (waves breaking on the smooth inclined beach). It all fitted, as did the sandy dust (broken-down sea shells) whipping over the dune behind me, while my thoughts drifted from the spiraling origins of the universe and its destiny.... shimmy-ing star-dust through galaxies and Life, and onto shimmy-ing star-dust. A Jazzy sort of scene! And somehow I knew I belonged there with Shiva, Dancing!, "breaking" through and journeying the infinite.

Rather Zorba-esque I suppose.
{"Teach me to dance, will you?" (The question that precedes Zorba's Dance, in the movie, Zorba the Greek.)}.
Matj

[lizzytysh]

Hi Mat and Byron ~

I'm so glad Byron asked which poem [seemed obvious to me, too , but, oh well... ] and that he suggested the change in title [which I agreed with].

It gave me a chance to read his sweet poem, again, and to take in with pleasure your explanation of the why's of your choice. After reading your [might as well have been prose-poetry] explanation, it was clear just how intentional your well-chosen your title was and that, of course, it should remain as so... even though I still love the feel of Byron's.

Thanks, both of you.


~ Lizzy