Survivors

Survivors

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

No Man's Land


©  2012 Steve King
All rights reserved


It seems I’m caught between competing instances,
the push of past and pull of future,
nearest bit of each disguised as ‘now,’
the mask of an eternal present.

And here I stand:
empty as the eye of a needle
through which the thread of all must hang,
history and destiny drawn slack,
‘til someday they shall serve to scribe a kind of ragged seam,
and unify this narrative of dreams.

Here,
a patient link
in the contingent tale,
cleaving to each instant, first and last,
listening for fanfares and echoes
of distant ends and fast receding means;
spinning a biography
to binding futures
sprung from some unknown predicate;
working through familiar inklings
though without a syllogistic claim…

The racing times clamoring to distract:
new and new and new,
whole worlds turning in the instant,
madnesses and bright imaginings—
I would be grateful even for what madness would convey.
Now, sharpening my seeing to that needle’s point,
finally to know those things my fates may soon endow,
when—

far too soon,
each dawning moment
slips to some other
now…

17 comments:

  1. Time can be fickle
    Whether dime or nickle
    Caught between each
    In time will teach
    First one more
    At your shore

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  2. It's very satisfying to watch you work your way through this one, not leading by the hand, but pulling the mind along behind you and urging it across the conceptual hurdles gently--from the idea of time as a mask, so painfully relative, to the needle's eye of self which must be threaded, seaming past and present into patchwork futures--or maybe the other way round. Plenty of succinct and lyrical language, too. Really felt at home in these catacombs, Steve. Fine piece.

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  3. the passage of time and slip of the moments...i feel it steve....really nice progression in this...and loop back tot he needle as well there in the end...

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  4. not easy to stand in the no man's land...i like how you describe the feelings..esp. loved..empty as the eye of a needle...

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  5. "‘til someday they shall serve to scribe a kind of ragged seam,"

    this line holds magic for me... now, then, yet to come are all such elusive concepts, love the way you folded them all into this piece!

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  6. ha...my comment just disappeared...not easy to stand in that no mans land..and you describe the emotions well..esp. loved ..empty as the eye of a needle....

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  7. Wow, Steve! This is a stunner. Time...the past, future and present ...a fascinating subject."and here I stand, empty as the eye of a needle"...wonderful! "The racing times clamoring to distract new and new and new" The present, indeed clamors so that it almost cannot be heard, felt...I love this work! All of it!

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  8. A great write...the passage of time..empty as the eye of a needle..hit it out of the park, I just love this!

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  9. Interesting to read this: I spent a good part of yesterday studying Eliot's Burnt Norton. They both explore time with similar and contrasting metaphors. Yours, more immediate to my mind, trying to stay conscious and on the point of living the moment; his more trying to reconcile the overlap of time where the present disappears into possibilities out of the past/into the future where all things of choice may exist. The ending in yours so poignant - indeed it is we who move across time rather than on it.

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  10. "It seems I’m caught between competing instances,
    the push of past and pull of future,
    nearest bit of each disguised as ‘now,’
    the mask of an eternal present."

    A never ending "limbo," a twilight zone of "now" and "now" where even madness would be a welcome change. I really like how you were able to perfectly express the almost "obsessive" intensity of this Möbius strip-like paradox. Another wonderful piece, my friend!

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  11. A wonderful write this is my favorite part.

    And here I stand:
    empty as the eye of a needle
    through which the thread of all must hang,

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  12. This is wonderful. No Man's land and Everyman's land, or not land - you describe all these paradoxes so well and the difficulty of getting a hold on anything! The beginning I thought especially wonderful - the phrase "competing instances" so clever and apt. The needle metaphor wonderful too--can't help thinking of a rich man, heaven and camels. k.

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  13. PS _ looked for your post on acting, but cannot find. If you send me link (but better put on my blog as I may not get notice here) I'll check on it. K.

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  14. This carries in it the existential moment that binds our self to the transition to another self. Your narrative describes perfectly both terror and necessity of these moments which determine how true to ourselves we choose to be or not. Stunning lines thruout, pulling us into that knot of becoming life wherein we find ourselves, for better or for worse.

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  15. Very nice... love the felling of futures and pasts as well.

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  16. far too soon,
    each dawning moment
    slips to some other
    now…

    Your last stanza is a good reminder. We may get off tangent too easily if we are not careful. Nice write Steve!

    Hank

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  17. "the push of past and pull of future,
    nearest bit of each disguised as ‘now,'" That is so true. Funny thing about trying to live in the moment, once you start thinking about it and trying... you no longer are.

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