Gregory Richard Barden | + Follow Poet |
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Quis Sum

I am ...

I am the black shine of a dead stare
      I am the reticent pallor of the moon's caste
         and the bruise of gleaming porcelain
   I am the shattered mirror of truth
I am the saturation of matter, dark ...

      I am the intent of an eyelash
         and the trembling mortality of a wound
   I am the exhalation of poison, pure
and the sobering stab of terror
      I am the caustic euphoria of ego ...

         I am the sublime spasm of climax
   I am the blinding lie of lust
and the rip of fallacy
      I am sepulcher and staff
         I am the gape, the maw, the bite ...

   I am the balm, the scar, the tear
I am the Marianas
      I am Mauna Loa
         I am Villa Las Estrellas
   I am the Jack Hills, the Friis Hills ...

And the Tumulus of Bougon
      I am the Krubera Cave and Naica Mine
         I am the South Summit and Olympic Mons
   I am El Azizia and Death Valley
I am Dome Argus and the steaming vents ...

      I am the Lambert, the Hubbard
         and the Aletsch Gletscher
   I am the Burj Khalifa, the Jean-Luc Lagardère
and the Danyang–Kunshan
      I am the span of a wormhole ...

         And the voltaic vibration of strings
   I am the keen creep of ages
the bulge of infinite mass
      and the Reaper's rusted blade
         I am the whorl of vortices ...

   I am the quantum pull of time
I am the radiation of isotopes
      and the hydrogen core of a star
         I am quark, lepton, and neutrino
   I am photon and super-nova ...

I am the sea of suns and the Great Void
      I am the gauge bosons and the heavenly expanse 
         I am the press of a hand in blindness
   and the cognition of empathy
I am the grand comedy and the tragic schill ...

      I am lover, liege, and allegory
         I am the dust and the dust, and all between
   the dream and the doubt, lucid
the Ghost and the ghoul
      the All, the Nothing ...

   I am.

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John Hamilton Date: 8/22/2019 10:45:00 AM So what does it all mean? I guess you are the sum total of all your life's experiences, each moment lived combines to make you who you are? That's what I got out of it, but no doubt there is a deeper meaning, I'm just not getting. Login to Reply Gregory Richard Barden Date: 8/22/2019 6:14:00 PM (2) ... without the dark and negative there would be no light, only apathy, and life would no longer be precious. These things I've listed are all the grandest of what they are - biggest, deepest, longest, most amazing - just to describe the immensity of Creation. Blessings, Brother - please don't take my explanations as saying your impressions are incorrect, because I LOVE that you get other things from them - it shows you have an active imagination, and that is a poet's greatest gift! :o) Gregory Richard Barden Date: 8/22/2019 6:12:00 PM (1) These ambiguous ones are whatever you get from them, John, and that's WHY I write them and enjoy the reactions - to get folks' imaginations spinning! That's the beauty of poetry for me, especially writing it. My impressions while writing were from the viewpoint of God, (or whatever created this Universe), and as I said to Arturo, the balance of it all and the gift of Free Will - the need of ALL things, good and bad ... (continued)

Arturo Michael Date: 8/22/2019 5:17:00 AM Nice concept... and can be switched with the same fervor towards the light... Login to Reply Gregory Richard Barden Date: 8/22/2019 6:06:00 PM Thank you, my friend, and yes, that is the direction I was writing from - the ambiguity of creation and the balance of the Universe, no light without darkness, no good without bad, no preciousness of life without the finality of death. So pleased you liked it! :-)