Vladimir Suchan, Orphean Nostoi, Book II of the Songs before the Gaze, available both in paperback and in e-book

Vladimir Suchan, Orphean Nostoi, Book II of the Songs before the Gaze

 

 

The Xu, the Fruitful Emptiness between Lovers’ Brushstrokes

 

Autumn birds gather into flocks,
and flocks into waves and scarves,
disclosing little, hiding much—

whoever is mortal
commonly strives
for the measure,
straining against it—

but gods—gods alone,
if true—may be at ease,
themselves bearing the measure,
though they did not set it;

and yet both mortals and gods
cannot but admire, deep down,
musicians and poets—those who hone,
their whole lives through, measure’s clear tone,

never turning away from sounding it,
ever seeking to bring it forth—
like the soul’s own pulse,
with the husk removed:

for flower and fruit.

Vladimir Suchan: Orphean Nostoi, Songs before the Gaze II

 

Book I of the Songs before the Gaze: Anamnesis and Breath by V. Suchan, published on Amazon as paperback and e-book

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GR2FCTSF 

My new book of poetry Dust of Light is now also available in paperback

 

I Came to This Life to Accord Both with the Sagalassos Missive And Lao Tze’s Teachings

“Men are born soft and supple;
Dead, they are stiff and hard. …
Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible
Is a disciple of death;
Whoever is soft and yielding
Is a disciple of life…
The soft and supple will prevail.”
—Lao Tze, Tao Te Ching, Book 76

Odine, Odette, Undine—
is that a way to transcend
the rigid, leaden corpse
where the light of self,

the good old Atman,
undergoes its darkening?
Not unlike a word in speech—
how did they name it in Urdu?—

when, infused with life,
it grows sinuous and svelte
till it arches to a supple song,
flowing like a mountain spring

ripe and rightly timed
for some restored nymphaeum
(like that above Ağlasun,
where nimble Maenads

ring a hero’s lofty tomb).
And isn’t mater Atman,
mirrored, inverse, dimmed—
a heart petrified within?

Or have we forgotten
that even to be inspired,
there, to begin, one must be
affable to love’s spirit first?

Eternity Returns amid Diverse Loves

 

Amid diverse loves,
eternity returns,
whether moored
or unmoored again.

For what is let go
and what is retained
plumbs and defines
one’s anchor—

what it allows to a sail,
or how well
the Siren sings
on the upright mast,

on that little link
and life’s brief dash
that holds and ties
so much below

and all above.