A soul composed of courage seeks redemption through faith in life.
Contents
. dispose . despair . denigrate . denounce
Despair
to lose hope
to lack courage
to perform recklessness
TRANSLATIONS:
Eyes in the world looking, but can they see
what’s there or only memory of who made it before when photography was beginning to become primary
claiming languages and culturelle variables
communication as visibly digestible
succinctly demanding literacy of the psyche
such non-verbal forms as visual
another loss in translation.
Experiences are known as not tangible
yet present and dominated by written words
tugging on underlying currents
levying popularity into translated analysis
as coded by experts of historic and cultural contexts
these mediums of academic concepts
relent as raindrops upon
a drought of towers and titles
standing cold before flocks, yields and lives.
Translations become their own art of the mind
a responses to the power of images
abdicated to story telling
through grapevines of dialogue
and relationships, heightened by the image, all the mightier
a frame all the more frightening
forging alleyways to marry symbols
smelting variable dimensions as malleable
as hot individual parts
barely summarising life.
Translations were poems originally written for Urbanautica, at the time, an online website dedicated to art and photography. Founded by Steve Bisson, these poems were written as translations of the contents of the photographic images. The names in which the words reference have disappeared. Though much of these poems were edited from their original form, these are as they were published online (with some spelling corrections). As an experiment, perhaps the words may conjure images in your imagination.
#1 Mercy
Tradition may play more games here than we can behold. All signs set sights on results-ending in passing, the ammunition that unbinds our homes. May we stand before our own senses without entitlement. May we walk among landscapes free from sensationalised stench. May there remain plenty mercy to go around. In these soft shadows emerge a faint pulsating beacon of reason, just a bit beyond a nudge-please may these inklings be enough to drive nails traversing through pages unwritten unto a dissolution of commonplace reoccurrence, the forbearance of this is just how things are acceptance. There is course for blessing-make way.
#2 The Last Line
A peculiar affirmation will strike
when forcing oneself to simply breath
in and out-
Whether seated in a situation of rest or motion
the present tense holds no limit
we travel deeper-
Prior or beyond a vague confinement
that can only arise from potential weight
the heart holds-
A ballet of stillness offers consolation
illustrative in the counterbalance of
the right now-
Turning inward to face a landscape
scarcely navigated we uncover what are just
portraits of time-
For whatever deplorable circumstance arise
from the sureness of an unknowing self we find decency
defined in uncertainty-
What to do with what we are questions
illuminates without answer the absolution
of external manifestation-
To find the unanswered beyond acceptable
the infinitely viable selves and paths are
only a transition.
#3 By Some Grace
Behind, before but never just there. The docile anonymity of spirit remains untethered, uncaged, incapable of rearrangement. Grecian Goddesses of attainment and human delight take form amidst the domesticated plight of mammalian life. A warm body to warm the body of another-transportation of the wild to the inhibited. What nature calls for this disgrace? A simple look upon such eyes of purity speaks stories of a creature innate by the origin of the word create. Perceived forms of them, us and we do little to dispel the truth that lies within. Unbridled amore and renewed trust, our lives await an impassioned existence to not be sought after, but shared. The wilful desire to dominate by force, contain the greatness scares and manifests all that stands separate in awe vanishes before the facade that once upheld suggested ideals. One day the spirit of unity will call upon us revealing the unity of all is by no means defined by any word or book.
#4 Observer of beautiful forms
Iconographic determined destiny-
and what a better board for drawing than blue sky, puffy cloud
hovering above sandscapes of arresting beauty.
Romanticising about reality creates a sense of urgency-
a season for desire.
Invariably leading towards a cycle
of dissertation resuscitation revealing a lust
for tangibility only limits imagination.
Gaze toward setting sun, lids nearly half open.
Awash in spectacular bursting rainbows of light-
in every beam, ray and rounded plumb of incandescence-
Sense a reflective emanation of an essential vibration.
Desired unity manifest in seeking approval beyond-
May stillness permeate or never be found.
Allow the dreaming; carry on.
#5 A Reading to the Evening
A canvas to intercoastal regions of illumination
half opened or closed, the pain is entirely see through
it’s a something we scurry by
glance at and pretend to ignore-
but there’s something imminent in this form
this new wave of palette to explore,
in these hours the minutia pass
beneath the breath of sidewalk gawkers.
There’s a poetry to this-
this style of residence
keeping in mind
a coming out to play remains
more than a memory inside-
In an auric blend of mystery and intrigue
looking towards a direction of manifestation
intangible moments are realized in real time
emitted in the vapours of exhalation.
These sights shout such tall orders
even in these hours a deafening vacancy
interpreted unkindly pleads subjectively
for invariably the ephemeral does fail-
And from this form we meet
neither from within, or outwardly
pacing, stirring and finding forward
on repeat.
#6 True to Form
Distinguishing the commonplace from the regulatory
is all but easy -
Still uncommon is the nature to nurture
the desire to please -
Decorated abstractions as basis for evidence
an existence for amusement -
Lets us refrain for making any sort of pattern
gone from treaties -
These climates were devised to control
a greener mound to call home -
Stretch a toe out long across deserving textures
a reach for understanding
Something true to form.
I am seeing all of my superficiality.
© Mari Amman. All Rights Reserved.
Poetry, Prose &Suche VOL II.
First edition 2023, electronic distribution. Text and Images by Mari Amman.
The poems contained within this volume were drafted circa 2006-2009, in Chicago, USA, and edited during spring 2023 in Paris, France, with the enormous support of The Trélex Residency.
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