By yi-ching lin
March 10, 2010
Tags: axis, Chile, death, dslr, earth, earthquake, grief, half empty, half full, loss, manhattan, moon, NASA, photo, photograph, photography, photos, pictures, poem, poems, poetry, random, sky
Category: art, city, nature, nyc, structure
20 Comments »
yi-ching lin photography 
on the twenty-eighth
day, the moon will have
finally made her way around
this new
world-without-
you, and the sudden
realization will show
on her face,
and the earth will recognize
that suffering look
and all at once
feel
lighter in mass, in this new
world-without-
you.
as a consequence,
each day
will be quickened
by one point two
six microseconds,
and they will put it
in their history books –
and there will be less time
to say i love you,
less occasion to hold your
hand, less room
to tie the tips
of our dreams together,
less, still less.
but it is only the twentieth
day – the moon doesn’t
know, so the earth
doesn’t know, and the
days, they drag their
feet because you’re not
here, and
we have been living
with it
for twenty days
.
20100309:2108
y
Y,
thanks again for another wonderfully written poem. Such expression! I really appreciate the line “less room to tie the tips of our dreams together.” There could be a good picture drawn of that image with two people sitting facing each other or maybe facing the ocean with a setting sun. I would see their dreams coming out of their heads and intertwining at different parts like the roots of a tree. I was initially thinking of it like upside down trees like the base of a tree coming out of their heads and the roots sticking up in the air and then some of the roots connecting. But, I think it would be more powerful to see the roots as the dreams coming out of the two people and forming one tree above them. Maybe that drawing with a caption like “Our dreams tied together take us higher” … ok so wow I guess I really liked that line, sorry it comes via such pain and loss for you. I think the image suits the poem well with just the moon and all the emptiness and loneliness around it. I don’t know if you saw it but I wrote a poem based on your loss and the feeling of loss that’s been expressed through you on your blog. It’s on my blog if you’re up for looking at it.
Peace,
Stephen
i love the first image you described and can see it already, with the tree flowering above their heads. and i can see their feet rooted into the ground with a second level of intertwining like tree roots. now we just have to wait for Leslie from lesliepaints (smile). sounds lovely & surreal. thank you, and thank you for the poem(s) you wrote.
this is a very curious image.
i really do like it
hey, R, maybe you could create the image described above with your paper-cutting?
O’kay, you two…….My take: A tree is of this earth and it is rooted to this earth. Our dreams are intertwined in space of a moment and are a step away and we chase them and sometimes catch them and they become reality. I believe “Y” will reach those dreams that were shared because I believe the reality of the soul and souls entertwined exists here and there. Unfortunately, it will not be the same as anticipated, previously. Talk about surreal! Your poem is beautiful paired with the image of the partial moon because the other lost half is gone. The space is the emptiness that is felt, at this time. There need be only the beauty of all that blue. This artist thinks you nailed it with your photo. That is not to say that Stephen’s image is less. Afterall, it is Stephen’s image and a beautiful one.
What I like about what you are doing, “Y”, is that you are healing through your writing and your photography. You are mourning with clarity.
thank you so much, Leslie, for sharing your thoughts once again. and now that you brought it up, as an artist, how did you mourn?
I wrote. Oh….it was awful writing ( 🙂 )but cleansing. I read and read some more, “Talking to Heaven” by Van Praagh and “Soul Stories” by Gary Zukav were my favorites and were read several times.
………..and through your words and photography, because it gives so much credence to the the understanding that I was not alone in the experience of loss.
On a comical note: I began drawing and painting again because I found my writing abhorrent. 🙂
What a fantastic poem…
thank you, again, for visiting. and for those of you who may not have gotten the reference: Chilean Quake May Have Shortened Earth Days (<–link)
well, i don’t know about your writing, Leslie, but your painting and drawing are phenomenal! thank you, again!
Lovely image.
Read the comments and your question to Leslie.
Considered my answer–I mourn by remembering moments of interaction. And each mourning is an honroing and a releasing at the same time.
ah, sigh.
I saw that Eva is adding to the conversation and just wanted to say that she honors Native American souls and mourns them everytime she writes and researches. I know their spirit is dancing around her. My vision changes everytime I visit “Y” and Eva.
[…] PDRTJS_settings_1255482_post_196 = { "id" : "1255482", "unique_id" : "wp-post-196", "title" : "The+tips+of+our+dreams+-+Poem", "item_id" : "_post_196", "permalink" : "http%3A%2F%2Fstephenkellogg.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F03%2F12%2Fthe-tips-of-our-dreams-poem%2F" } This is in response to a request from Y in a comment to another poem I wrote Let the tears fall where they may – Poem. In that comment she asked if I would try to write the image I described based on a wonderful line from a photo / poem combo she took / wrote “half empty / less time.” […]
Y,
per your request I have made an attempt to write the image I described above. It’s located here http://stephenkellogg.wordpress.com/2010/03/12/the-tips-of-our-dreams-poem/ I haven’t had time until tonight to sit down and write on this but more came out than I thought so maybe that’s a good thing. I expanded a good bit on it and hope that it finds a place and resonates with you.
Peace,
Stephen
thank you for the generous gesture.
Leslie–what an image you ‘write’. merci.
alone and longing……..many meanings in one stories….
thank you, again!