The Meaning of Life
In the struggle between the stone and water,
in time, the water wins. —Japanese proverb
A formula came to me in a dream
when I was desperate
a dream drifted
clear as an algaed pond
in which mottled koi
swim their scaley dance
meaning: fog-sighted,
self-contained,
meaning: this belongs inside
my thought’s clay banks
the dream sign stood clear
to me
letters and numerals
moving verso to recto
like a koi ballet
or the garnet veins
of a coral-bell leaf
I wrote it down in a notebook
I no longer carry it with me
because to stamp meaning
on one equation of life
makes an imperious whim
an emperor of argument
yet the finch goes on
just being finch
creating its sounds
we soothe ourselves
by calling song
instead of edict
our words become rock or water
rhetoric is a boulder
a tool to build
laws or confidence
power or fear
poetry flows as human song
heart in throat—
evolved from ancient
circles of fire, circles
of stones, small tribes
farflung under a shining dome
of alien galaxies—
hope with many feathers
truths free of greed’s chains
may our words, our acts, be a river
polishing smooth the stones
Susan Swartwout’s books are Odd Beauty, Strange Fruit: Poems, 2 poetry chapbooks, 12 anthologies, and a publishing textbook. Her work has been awarded a Rona Jaffe Foundation Award, St. Louis Poetry Centre’s Hanks Award, and nominated for seven Pushcart Prizes. She taught creative writing and small-press publishing, and founded a university press. “Retired,” she copyedits as a freelancer and currently serves as editor of Delta Poetry Review.
Amethyst Review 