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author’s note: I often hear, “Follow your intuition!” To that, I say, “Yes, but the benefits aren’t always so obvious.” FORWARD BACK One morning on a two-lane highway my car hit a patch of black ice and suddenly went into a spin and when the backend had whipped to a stop the front end faced the place I’d just left. Or perhaps I should say “fled”. Or maybe the word is: “abandoned”. But then in that abrupt moment of stillness I could no longer ignore the silent voice. When what my intuition says goes against my wishes I may allow my stubborn will to steer the wheel until I go into a spin-- and eventually I’ll go into a spin. Then I’ll finally surrender to the secret knowledge of that silent voice. Yet even as I obey I’ll ask “why”-- why I must do what I must? I’ll ask--though I know I probably won’t get a reply. Years later I continue to learn why I needed to return to the place I had abandoned.
Listening to Silence: poetry book
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© 2022, Michael R. Patton
author’s note: Buzz! Buzz! -- Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew THE BEE MACHINE RESPONDS TO THE DEMANDS OF ITS SPIRIT In deep quiet I find someone much more peaceful than the one I usually am and yet I don’t linger down too long-- though I sometimes try I can’t ignore the desire to rise but maybe erupt is the better word-- to go a thousand different ways until overladen with all I’ve taken in like the bee weighted with pollen. then I’ll feel the need to cleanse myself again in a deep solitary pool of quiet: striving for a supreme silence I can never completely reach because in short time I’ll feel compelled to leap back up once more. Some would judge this pattern of behavior as programmed mechanical action. In other words: I’m not just like a bee, I am a bee. To that idea I say what my silence has told me: I’m a bee responding to the demands of an energy beyond my understanding.
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© 2021, Michael R. Patton
author’s note: “I learn by going where I have to go.” – Theodore Roethke THE SILENT VOICE Sometimes, when I quiet down to ponder a decision... I detect a voice deep within...alien, it seems: a voice without language or even sound-- nonetheless, it talks: sometimes it tells me yes sometimes it tells me no-- often giving me an answer different from the one I’d wished for. But I've learned not to argue-- from experience I know the walls, the falls, the knots that result when I go against it. However, to obey--to follow-- often doesn’t bring clear benefits-- often I can’t see the purpose for going here instead of there and doing this instead of that even years after the act. To deal with my perplexity I’ve decided to trust that that little voice knows the way to "home"-- knows what needs to unfold through work and time--knows where I need to go in order to eventually get to where I need to eventually be. A bold notion--I’m fearful as I struggle to believe and yet, I’m also encouraged: I find hope in that belief.
dream steps blog
© 2021, Michael R. Patton
author's note: “Exploring the silence gives poetic thought birth.” -- Pao Hsien (trans. Paul Hansen) GREAT SILENT MYSTERY As the story goes... when our ancestors felt the mystery of a tree or river or mountain or creature they wanted to talk to it and learn what it was and so began to drum. Whatever sound echoed back then became the name of that bounder, beast or shrub. But after all the many things had been named the people sensed the presence of one final mystery-- a mystery unseen-- a mystery everywhere all the time. However this mystery would not answer our ancestors no matter how hard they banged their drums so finally they stopped to listen to determine the nature of an essence so strange. The people then heard the silent mystery resounding throughout the stillness --dominating earth and sky-- all the named things suddenly lost their names because everything became part of that great mystery. Those folks even began to feel the unnamed mystery within themselves and then, anxious to preserve their identity they returned to drumming and felt comforted by the noisy distraction. But whenever they felt dull in their days they’d stop to listen to the silent mystery until they became overwhelmed once more. At this point in my walk I feel the need to stop because I sense something missing-- I’m tired of all these things around me-- tired of all the words, the names. So I’m trying to regress-- I’m trying to shut up long enough to feel the power of the great silent mystery not to escape life, but to know the life within everything-- and know the life--feel the life-- within me, once more.
cutting artichoke stalks – slow TV
© 2021, Michael R. Patton
Michael Patton
sky rope (subterranean rappel) 