My gift to you is that I stand still,
regardless of how the world flips and turns,
regardless of how rapidly the marbles
slide from this side to that.
I am here, in this chair, in this room,
unmoved.
My gift to you is that I am your mirror
and the farther you pull away from me,
the clearer you and everything around you becomes.
Then you know you are far away,
and, perhaps then, you know how to come back.
In me, you gather yourself, your sensations,
and I sit motionless.
My gift to you is that I contain everything
and all there is on earth and in your mind,
all commotions, chaos, love, relief, incoherence.
I contain it and preserve it in its original form,
uncatalogued, uncleaned, raw, for your own embrace.
It is here, inside me, for you,
as I sit here, waiting.
My gift to you is that I am empty,
and that no matter how you try to overstuff me
with your naive ambitions and unbidden
nightmares, I will have room for more.
You never have to go anywhere else,
or be anything else, or make anything else.
It is complete, here, in me,
stubborn and still.
———————————-
This poem was inspired by Victoria Slotto’s Writers’ Fourth Wednesday ’Got change?’ prompt (The Bardo Group, http://intothebardo.wordpress.com/2014/09/24/got-change-writers-fourth-wednesday/). Victoria asks poets to write about how they make change for good in the world. My starting point was Hannah Arendt’s book Men in Dark Times which explores the role of the philosopher when society falls apart.
Poems from in between 
13 responses to “Holding still”
Quite lovely, so calming.
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Thank you!
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I will spend more time pondering this…I love the richness of it. Right now my favorite stanza is #3, and I also love that image of the marbles sliding, and the last line.
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Thanks much. It was kind of a tall order!
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This is a very thoughtful and thought provoking piece, Jenifer. This is poetry at as it should be, expressing the normally inexpressible, addressing those issues that seem sometimes to be beyond our control. I was absorbed, reading this poem.
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Thank you for your encouragement.
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An absolutely well-considered and well-constructed poem and so very perfect for the occasion. I appreciate Hahhah Arendt writing too.
Nicely done.
Thank you for joining us at The Bardo Group blog for this occasion, Jenifer.
Many blessings,
Jamie
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Thank you, Jamie. Coming from you that means a lot.
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For me, this speaks beautifully of the need for stillness, for peace within.Wonderful poetry that deserves to be read and re-read and then digested. Thank you, Jennifer.
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Thank you, Victoria. You are very generous.
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You are featured here, Jenifer:
http://intothebardo.wordpress.com/100000-poets-for-change-2014-commemorative-page/
Thanks again and have a lovely weekend.
J.
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Thank you, Jamie!
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[…] Galasso, Victoria Ceretto-Slotto, Charlie (Charles W. Martin), Terri Stewart, Corina Ravenscraft, Jenifer Carland, Viv Blake, Di Turner, and Susan Chast for your very fine contributions to this event. I hope to […]
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