Tony told me the other day
That often times in art
It makes "the most sense" to focus on
The negative space
In order to bring shape to
what is
And while he admitted this is hard,
he concluded it to be where the
most power lies in creation.
Today, I sit sleepy eyed on my porch,
with a space heater, warming me
while I pandemically work from home,
the day after Trump supporters
stormed the capitol.
This is reality.
It is simply what is.
I cannot control what is happening,
but I can always control my response.
And so I feel the weight of my coffee in a stainless
steel tumbler (so it won't chill quite as fast)
I breathe in, and exhale out with extension
Quiet is the truest companion.
I relish in the buttery softness of my leggings
clinging around my legs.
I hear birds and imagine myself inside their messages.
Without effort, I glance to the right:
Traffic, like shooting stars, comes and goes:
Destinations unknown,
their backdrop a simple canvas of
muted gray, uninspired and plain.
Swiveling to the left I am struck
by that which often goes unnoticed.
Streaming through a sliver of eastern window
Poking out like a surprise past my neighbor's
front porch:
the most breathtaking sunrise becoming born....
A beacon or a baton, it rises up fluidly
Trailing ribbons of pink and blue
Eventually cascading into an orange
that bleeds out without caution or concern
Azure clouds horizontally support the display
I see their measure and I value their purpose,
They highlight simple excellence with dignity
I am sandwiched between plain ignorance
and a brilliant beautiful truth-
A collision of consciousness of the
both/and phenomenon and
I feel grateful for my ability to see
on both sides of me and appreciate.
Simply SEEING what is there and
being with it is an utterly useful way to
initiate a day.
Taking in another sip of coffee,
I look to what lies directly before me,
Outside and straight ahead, additional pause.
This is my inside as well.
Several naked trees posing for no one-
Winterized and whole separate, yet
somehow also joining together in my vision
Strong and dark on top of the white landscape
They are propped and unmoved at their base,
Inviting my eyes to continue to consume upward,
to take them all in, alone and collectively until
I land upon the tippity top the filaments fragile
yet carefully bending and giving way to the elements
that threaten the exterior
Supported from the inside out and underneath,
a foundation that cannot be broken.
I notice that this is where the negative space
Calls out the loudest in a language we can all
understand if we all were to make a choice:
To look, to listen, so that we may step into the world
The one that sits patiently existing
Beyond what we see,
Beyond what we know to be true,
Beyond what is real and unreal.
We have a heart center that lives deeper.
It's here.
And we can not only be reminded of it.
It's here we can see it reflected.
It's here we can be energized anew.
It's here we can meet up with it
and be with it and in doing so
find our way to equanimity and fortitude,
our guides.
Find our oneness.
Find ourselves inside of tiny
triangles dripping off of branches
See the way souls are simply
light that illuminates brightly
off of something else.
All of us. All of us. All of us.
If we want to be okay, really okay,
we must come to recognize this in nature
so that we can return to our own true
nature and be with it.
We can learn to accept what is with
whole hearted awareness and without alteration.
When this wise view is really clear
we are free to cultivate our intentions
and actions and ultimately we can lead
ourselves right on into our own redemption.
There is nothing negative about
negative space, and for right now, it's
the only place I feel free.
Won't you join me?
