Poem Analysis and Original Manuscript: Henry’s Sky (From Angel Machine 6)
Henry’s Sky*, like most poems, I vaguely remember writing because of my altered state—and being driven by a force deep inside me or far, far away—or both. I recall the 3-word play that begins the poem:
Thoreau
thorough
Thor—Oh!
This was likely why I grabbed my clipboard when I “heard” those words together. The next two verses are classic examples where I heard what I was “supposed” to write; but my inner critique said, “no, that makes no sense and the repetition is risky”:
through
through
through
threw
threw
threw
The same word phonetically, but this gives two meanings, two actions when going to the other side.
The rest of the poem was a typical, conscious-streaming tumble of word play and metaphor combined with the metaphysical and spiritual. I imagine a person of very humble beginnings being throw into a Hollywood celebrity party, “where the stars congregate”. Uncomfortable and not belonging, the person asks, who will throw me back to my proper, humble place (but touched with star essence, “a comet”). Knowing their origin, “a star never was I,” they enumerate the difference between the famous and sages among the commoners. Seers or sages are the ones that can discern and view “the gap” between light and dark:
I shine from the other side
of darkness
the flip side of light
I am neither
Within the gap one sees pure light, truth, or divinity: the light so bright it is not dimensional, but ascendant…beyond. The proverbial ether, omniscience:
I am not matter
Only
Sight.
*Rarely do I receive titles at the time of writing. Poems are titled subsequent to writing, usually years later, and only for individual publication. The complete trilogies do not have individual poem titles; poems are only individuated by the closing date/time of writing
Henry's Sky
You know what
Thoreau
thorough
Thor — Oh!
lead to?
through
through
through
threw
threw
threw
Throw me to the other side!
Where the stars congregate.
Which star will pick me up?
_____________
And throw me back
A comet?
A star never was I
Stars shine innately
I shine from the other side
of darkness
the flip side of light
I am neither
I shine so Bright
I come from Ether
shining without light
I am not matter
Only
Sight.
9:00am, 13 July 2014
