Comp. poem 3 Comments welcome

[mickey_one]

I hide
but never from myself.

These shades
polarize glitz and betray form
as mythic shades inform from shadows
of that Bigger Will.

[lizzytysh]

You can take the poet out of the mystic...
But you can't take the mystic out of the poet...

I LIKED the set-up beginning. The truth in it is really appropriate to the concept of a robber, and certainly as well to Leonard. For me, it worked really well. I like how the writer took the "Wanted" photo and turned it around and around with the shades and the the polarizing of the glitz [Leonard's modus operandi]... and with the shades and shadows to create the Greater message of the poem. "Inform from shadows"... I love that line... as though Leonard is always there, informing from the shadows, which he is and does. I liked the simplicity and truth of this one.

Your addition, Mikey... .


~ Lizzy

[Diane]

This is the bestest.

[Joney]

A very spiritual entry, very LC.

[mat james]

(for those who are interested in how this poem evloved)


How I sauntered from poster to poem

The starting point was Leonard and what he might ponder, if transposed into this mug-shot. I fast forwarded (or reversed) to that video clip I once saw of him reciting “Democracy” (is coming, to the USA) and I remembered at the time being intrigued by the simplicity and power of his delivery, near incognito behind his darkly ominous sunglasses. It was a powerful image that depersonalized and distanced him from the egocentricity of performing. Yes, that image in the forum’s “Wanted for armed robbery” poster, took me there, behind those “shades”; I was his eyes, looking.
It took me also to any eyes that view the world from behind a pair of Darth Vader-like shades. A world where I was only Eyes, viewing. Viewing beyond the obvious, beyond the façade, beyond the fashionable image, beyond the “glitz” (and I only buy polarized lenses, to cut the spraying of the light, to see the “form” unimpeded).
It followed then that this is what a Poet of Leonard’s caliber does; expose the form behind the spray of hype and falseness (glitz).
I thought how a thinker/poet like Leonard sits within the crowd, afar, seeing the eternal in the ordinary, like some intelligent miss-fit who ends up behind prison bars.
To see; is what the poet/artist does quite naturally. To see clearly requires filters of intelligence, empathy and distance. The “sunnies/shades” are a strangely evocative symbol of this way of viewing, of perception. The viewer, the poet, sees the world fooled by appearances.
With regard to how I relate the photo to Leonard? As the shades suggest, he is hiding/distancing himself from others and it follows then that;

“I hide
But never from myself ”

Leonard may be polite and outwardly conforming and in his own way conservative, but he knows that this is not the raw, inner self; rather, the self who needs to live in society and survive and provide.
Because he sees and writes from his shaded view, our poet (Leonard) is as honest as a man can be and though incognito and hiding from the world behind those “shades”, he is not fooled by his own or the world’s appearances. He sees “form” for what it is;

“These shades
Polarize glitz and betray form”

Leonard has learned from the visionaries and mystics of the past, from their sacred texts, and poetry. These old ghosts come to life in scripture and fortuitously for this writer, the old fashioned term for these ancient souls who inform the living, is “shades”. A less repulsive term than “ghosts” in my view and it fitted both the theme and symbol of this poem.
Leonard has referred to his mental battle with his God as a relationship of two “wills”, his own little “will” and the bigger “Will” of God. He lives this battle of the “wills” and writes about it among the shades and shadows of his culture.
The word “shades” and its several meanings became the central mechanism for moving from scene to scene (within my poem). We move from shadowy fugitive on the contest poster to shades/sunnies, to shades/ghostly poets (teachers that are long dead) and as always, into shadows where poets hide and view the world of shaded Emanations.
With all this happening (the “little will” playing with the “Big Will”) it was fitting to define God as the “Bigger Will”.
My attempt to bring clarity, brevity and poetry to the mix, was the next phase.
(The filtering of light through the sunnies is similar to the filtering of Light through scripture).

“as mythic shades inform from shadows
of that Bigger Will.”

Poets of mystery can not take the bright Light of God directly, but learn from the “tempered light” through shadows, shades and sunnies!
Sure, I wrote more (a longer poem) but it was clumsily too much. So I worked on reducing and distilling these thoughts down to their lowest common denominator.
This, for me, encapsulates our fugitive, Leonard, and, I must say, I love it.

“I hide
but never from myself.
These shades
polarize glitz and betray form
as mythic shades inform from shadows
of that Bigger Will.”

I thought this was good but a little “cloudy” and I wanted clarity. So I separated the poem into two verses.
The first verse defines the character of the poet.

“I hide
but never from myself.” (“To thine own self be true”. A true man, unto himself....and all that stuff.)

And the second verse establishes his method of viewing, his cultural influences behind and among the various “shades”.


“These shades
polarize glitz and betray form
as mythic shades inform from shadows
of that Bigger Will.”

And so the final form of the poem (and perhaps I’ll give it a title too !);




Leonardo Incognito

I hide
but never from myself.

These shades
polarize glitz and betray form
as mythic shades inform from shadows
of that Bigger Will.


Mat J

[lizzytysh]

Thanks for your explanation, Mat. Most of it I got and some of it I didn't. Your explanation makes it all the better. Even if I hadn't known, I'd have guessed this one as yours. That's a compliment .


~ Lizzy

[Diane]

Ah, it was you, Mat. I really like the way you managed to take something silly and make it into something poetic. I'm not gonna read your long explanation though .