Bouquet of Light
 
Tap pity tap pity tap pity 
 
Ding
 
Typing at the dining room table
 
A bouquet of light 
Has been with me all night
 
Typing at the dining room table
 
 
djw
April 2020

My friend, Chris Martin, whose poetry I have shared here before, has started a newsletter called “The Listening World.” He works with people with a unique sense of the world, people who are neurodiverse, and will be publishing some of their poetry on this site. Here is how he introduces it:

"Welcome to The Listening World, a newsletter where all the news is poetry and all the poetry is written by neurodivergent writers. I will aim to bring you a new poem every week and at least one new song a month, all created by students with Unrestricted Interest, an organization dedicated to helping neurodivergent learners transform their lives through writing.

"This inaugural poem, from which the newsletter takes its name, comes from Hannah Emerson, a 27-year-old poet from Lafayette, NY. Hannah is a non-speaking, autistic typer who describes poets as 'keepers of the light.'”

Here is the first poem he shares from Ms. Emerson:

To see more of what Mr. Martin is up to, and to subscribe to his newsletter, please click on this link:
https://chrismartin.substack.com/

       IT’S A TIE
 
Friends no friends
  riends no friend
     ends no frie
       nds no frie
     ends no frien
  riends no friend
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
Friends no friends
     ends no frie
         ds no fr
              no

"There is so much we don't understand about poetry. No other utterance, we know, gives more lasting dimensions to our beliefs than that spiraling intertwining of music, image, and conviction. Yet we cannot see into the depths of that magical fusion, we do not understand how it can transmute any subject matter into a presence." -- Serge Hughes

"He never described himself as a poet or his work as poetry. The fact that the lines do not come to the edge of the page is no guarantee. Poetry is a verdict, not an occupation. He hated to argue about the techniques of verse. The poem is a dirty, bloody, burning thing that has to be grabbed first with bare hands. Once the fire celebrated Light, the dirt Humility, the blood Sacrifice. Now the poets are professional fire-eaters, freelancing at any carnival. The fire goes down easily and honors no one in particular.

"Once, for awhile, he seemed to serve something other than himself. Those were the only poems he ever wrote."

Leonard Cohen, The Favorite Game

I met Chris Martin through my work with kids with autism. He is a poet with a deep contemplative streak who has published several books. Here is a vertical poem he shared with me.

Rising
 
 
over time
 
vertiginous
 
this timid
 
middling life
 
and no less
 
miraculous
 
over time
 
me and you
 
meandering
 
and more dear
 
or more idea
 
than people
 
I want to plead
 
want to be
 
plea and flue
 
the hole the fire
 
leaps through
 
over time
 
under cover
 
of brick walled
 
darknesses
 
the fire feeds
 
on air to meet
 
whatever doesn’t
 
groan and cleave
 
against this cold
 
and whitest winter
 
 
 
- Chris Martin

You can get to know him better through this website:

https://onbeing.org/author/chris-martin/
 

there are not many songs
there is only one song

the animals lope to it
the fish swim to it
the sun circles to it
the stars rise
the snow falls
the grass grows

there is no end to the song and no beginning
the singer may die
but the song is forever

truth is the name of the song
and the song is truth.

-- Robert Lax