Poem of the Week: Prayer Flags

This poem was written after coming in from snow shoveling and having another incident of a reoccuring where the movement of the prayer flags brought to mind an illusion of something else, some other possibility which my mind threw up as a perceptual option with which to “see” reality.  It points to the nature of the mind. I also enjoyed the consideration that our breathing is much akin to the relationship and intended function of the prayer flag, that interdependent atmosphere of wind or breath becoming a relational connection to all carrying our spirit and influence outward as well as receiving the spirit or influence of all inward.

prayer flags

the mind regularly mistakes
porch corner’s prayer flags fluttering
for the hummingbird corner of my eye

at times it sees a squirrel on the rail
moving in increments to the napping spot

last fall their leaf colors caught my eye
turning … [MORE]
~David Anthony Martin, copyright 2013

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If you like this poem, consider reading a few of my new poems on my blog and checking out my book Span (Rhizome Publishing 2011, 2012) which can be purchased as an eBook and read on most devices or as a beautiful paperback to be held in your hands and taken with you on your day.  The cover art by Mathias Valdez of Last Leaf Printing takes the book as object” concept to a lovely level.  Span also makes a great, inexpensive gift for the book or nature lover on your list.

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To buy Span now with Paypal, Click on image below.

     

Span | A Collection of Poems by David A. Martin
Paperback, 144 pages.

$9.95 + tax and shipping.
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New Poem of the Week; an American haiku

The new Poem of the Week is an “american” haiku. American haiku usually follows (but sometimes strays from) the 5-7-5 syllabic line break “rules”, but often has no seasonal reference word (kigo) and is, more likely than not, missing a kireji which is a “cutting word” or “turning word” which gives traditional haiku that double-exposure quality.  Although the poem below does fall into this genre, I believe that it does, in fact, embody a metaphorical “fourth line” generating quality.

The dog, half-asleep,

. . . [More]

 
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This poem is from my recently begun, new notebook, having submitted worthy and well-worked poetry from the other filled and falling apart notebooks in manuscript form. If you like this poem check out my other Selected New Poems on my blog or consider the eBook or paperback purchase of my book, span (Rhizome Publishing 2011, 2012) which is a collection of Human Ecology poems from 2000-2010.

Human ecology is the subdiscipline of ecology that focuses on the human niche. Broadly speaking, it is a study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments: anthropogenic biomes called anthromes within which are habitats connected by road networks to create what has been called technoecosystems.  Human Ecology has a wide territory and manifesting in geography, sociology, psychology, anthropology, zoology, and natural ecology. It is my hope that my poetics can be seen to have contributed to this spectrum by adding literature, biography and ontology to this list.