Sunday, April 7, 2013

This idea of place



It was important, this idea
of place, in the sightings:
the cave, the road, the beach,
the room. The sightings
alone insufficient; they had
to be sited and placed,
to give them a name:
I saw him by the cave
I saw him on the road
I saw him in the room
and then I didn’t
I saw him tending fire
on the beach. Place
centers the sightings,
giving them a name
so the sightings could
become citings.

Painting: Thomas by Caravaggio, Schloss Sanssouci, Potsdam

4 comments:

  1. Sometimes I long for a sighting in one of my places.

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  2. Some nice assonance with those words "sightings" , "sited", "citings".

    I like how the poem makes us consider what it means to give something a name to become what is otherwise inexplicable and not known.

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  3. So good! We read the road to Emmaus scripture this morning in church. . .

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  4. A woman once asked me, "Have you met Jesus?", and i told her, yes, i have.

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