You say I see the world as monochrome – No texture and without tonality. The truth for you grows wild: reality Springs forth, connected, plural, as rhizome. Perhaps it’s true; I’d rather be at home Within the comfort of fixed certainty, For here amidst truth’s many pleats I see The wholeness seen across each movingContinue reading “The Truth is Three Persons (For Gilles Deleuze)”
Author Archives: Matthew Pullar
Being (After Denise Levertov’s “Flickering Mind”)
Well, November is running away from us and so far I’ve only managed one poem for my 12 Poets Project this month. So it’s time for another one, this one inspired by Denise Levertov’s wondering “Flickering Mind”, one of the best poetic expressions I have read of the human mind’s struggle with religious devotion. YouContinue reading “Being (After Denise Levertov’s “Flickering Mind”)”
Your Love Is Loud
Your love is loud: it shatters drums And bursts the walls; it shakes, benumbs The membranes and the tubes and nerves. It races through canals and swerves With swimming, soaring ocean thrum. In majesty it overcomes The orchestra, the endless hum Of all that mind and ear preserve: Your love is loud. Now listen asContinue reading “Your Love Is Loud”
Apologetic
You’ve heard, of course, how Blaise Pascal played dice – An arbitrary way to find the truth, As though the logic, weighed up in a trice (A coin tossed in the air), could render proof Redundant. Can eternity be found In such impulsive propositions? We Feel that faith should demand much surer ground. All theContinue reading “Apologetic”
Remembrance
These tragedies that war upon the screen, These day-to-day reminders that all’s sick: They cut into our vision as we dream And lie within stale hearts. The silent prick Of death we can repress, but not the waves That fight like foes upon our passive shores, Waging war where war was not. The graves ThatContinue reading “Remembrance”
Voices in the Garden (After Denise Levertov’s “On a Theme by Thomas Merton”)
“Who told you that you were naked?” His voice Cuts through the trees and fig-leaves. Naked, you stand, glory shattered, Illusion broken, image disconnected, Heart unsure now how to beat. “Did you eat the fruit from the tree?” His voice Asks yet does not need to be told: Your lips stink to heavenContinue reading “Voices in the Garden (After Denise Levertov’s “On a Theme by Thomas Merton”)”
Sonnet for the Mad Philosophers
Of course they all had their own complexes: Excessive longings of the silent heart And disorders of the solar plexus. Guilt too played its nagging, primal part: That drive which came from God-knows-where to minds Now smart enough to fear but not to change. Plato jumped at shadows behind the blinds; Descartes saw lying demonsContinue reading “Sonnet for the Mad Philosophers”
12 Poets #8: Denise Levertov
Well, the calendar year is coming to an end, and my year of writing about Christian poets is also well under way. We’re up to our eighth poet now, and this month we are going to be looking at American poet Denise Levertov, a Catholic poet and activist whose meditations on faith have been aContinue reading “12 Poets #8: Denise Levertov”
Post-Cup Fatigue
This morning you looked nice, I understand, Just like a groom on his proud way to church, But now your tie’s undone and you can’t stand Unless the lamp-post guides you as you as you lurch. Your partner calls and indicates the way, But legs – unsteady things at best – have schemes That thwartContinue reading “Post-Cup Fatigue”
Operation Jazz
Who comes here? They have grey hair mostly, to Complement these grey wristbands. The weekend Set aside for jazz, I suppose they hail, Like us, from the city – a pause taken At the very busiest time of year. For some, no time off is needed, it’s true. Others, though, must pause their schedules rightContinue reading “Operation Jazz”
The Consolations of Writing 