Poems

Coexistence Arising

Shadow sense,
mind prickle,
cold skin ripple,
supernatural premonition.

Human animals,
do not directly experience
the entities and forces
that are beyond our senses.

We can’t sense
The ultra-spectral colors
as do butterflies and bees.
Sense magnetic fields
as do migrating birds.
See with sonic vibrations
as do bats.
Smell the scent
of decaying carrion
across a wide and deep canyon
as do condors.
We think of forces
beyond our senses
as supernatural.
Beyond our nature.

But we augment
our limited inborn senses
with machines,
electronic sensors
deep space cameras,
scanning electron microscopes,
in order to
see, measure, and detect
what used to be supernatural.

Arthur C. Clark succinctly stated,
“Any sufficiently
advanced technology
is indistinguishable
from magic.”

A corollary might be:
“A sense of the
magical,
spiritual,
supernatural,
unexplainable
may be a glimpse of
an essential thread
of the fabric of nature
even though it is beyond
the direct perception
of our senses”.

When we are unaware
of creatures,
processes, and events
that we cannot
directly sense,
it is an ignorance
of perception.

If we are not consciously
seeking a means to
understand something,
we do not even consider it
to be part of our natural world.

Once we get
a whiff,
a taste,
a sense,
a feeling
of the unknown,
once we want
to “see” —
we set out
to build mechanized
extensions of our selves.

Machines that
extend our senses in a
hinted,
guessed,
supposed
dimension.
Often uncovering
more than we bargained for.

The Large Hadron Collider
is a machine
that extends our senses
into the world of
god particles,
quantum strings,
and dark matter.
These mythic symbols of the universe
were once unknowable and thus
in the realm of the supernatural.

But when we successfully
define the supernatural,
it then becomes part of
our Nature,
as it always has been.
Now that it is part
of our world of science.

What else
do we currently consider
super nature
simply because we have not
undertaken the task to
build a machine to
see it,
analyze it,
understand it?

What exists around us
that we have not yet
designed a machine
that can sense what
may lie next to us,
as dark matter fills
the space
between spaces?

What exists in the shadows of our vision?

What wanders
among us
that cannot be heard,
does not want to be heard,
by our flesh and vibrating bones,
our layers of retinal cones and rods
—or our electronic extensions?

What exists
between
the spaces
of our senses?

“How will you go about finding that thing
the nature of which is totally unknown to you?” — Meno

"Simply be aware of clouds and wind.” — Gary Snyder

It is entirely possible that behind the perception of our senses, worlds are hidden of which we are unaware — Albert Einstein

Sonoma Journey

Blue, grey, humpback
Journeying north in the night
Slipping through cold waters
Lit up by your music,
Sonic echoes painting pictures
across your skin:
Fleeing fish, sea floor sand,
Granite rocks, your baby following.
Sensing changes in water density
Savoring subtle flavors of salinity
Not seeing me,
Dreaming of you,
On the land, surrounded by air

Great grandmother
Taught how to avoid
Subsonic rumbles
Of diesel engines,
Turn away from
Shadows of floating wood,
Fear the chase of wind-driven sails.
All that you know of men,
You learned
To dive deep

And now we hunt you
With our eyes:
Cameras, sensors, and satellites;
Eager to witness your pelagic journeys
The appearance of your yearly progeny
Eager to be closer to you
Our distant cousin
So great in spirit
So much more at peace

We yearn to understand your songs
The way we pretend to
Understand the machinery of
Our technology
Perhaps someday, you will teach us
And we will understand
How to live in this world
as lightly as you do

Timber Cove July 2010